For the longest time, a very unhealthy idea of work culture was fed to us in the name of ‘dreaming big’. Many professionals boasted about pulling off an all-nighter by drinking 10 cups of black coffee with almost no breaks, forget sleep. What was worse? This was celebrated.
However, with the rising mental and physical health awareness, it was brought to light that such a work culture is, in fact, toxic to its very core. It deprives people of a healthy life and expects them to dedicate all their hours to work keeping none for themselves.
For example, the founder of an Equity Research Analyst Company recently took to Twitter to claim that if professions below 30 years of age aren’t working for more than 12 hours then they are not dreaming big enough.
If your age is less than 30 & you are working less than 12 Hours a day, You aint dreaming big enough!
— Amit Jeswani (@Amit_Jeswani1) October 1, 2020
But thanks to the rising awareness of toxic work cultures and several reports having refuted this claim, people online took to the comment section to slam him for promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Many said how working for long hours does not guarantee efficiency and quality work while others said that we need to stop glorifying people who do follow this.
If you want to identify the most inefficient, unproductive & stupid people in an organisation, see the one's who work for more than 8 hours a day.
— Udipta Bora (@Being__Realist) October 1, 2020
Not sure what has dream to do with working 12 hours plus.
— Sandeep Mall  (@SandeepMall) October 1, 2020
Stop propagating toxic work culture
— Sukhada (@appadappajappa) October 1, 2020
Working 12 hours a day is not normal. It's literally unhealthy for the average person. Cease this kind of thinking.
— joe herobrine repp (@daJoezenOne) October 1, 2020
This kind of attitude is so fucking toxic. Your life should not be defined by your contribution to capital. Be more than a worker bee.
— Felix Morgan 🦈👦 (@felixjmorgan) October 2, 2020
Dear 30 & below, ignore the above tweet.
You living in era where work can be finished in 4 productive hours. Stay focused and don't stress. If it's about dreams, 8 hrs of good sleep is key for your well being. So you know what 4+8=12 hrs does. Rest 12 hours run, play& network.— Chetan Yallapurkar (@chetan_golfer) October 1, 2020
— Karan Singh (@firstkaransingh) October 1, 2020
Tum jaise logo ki wajah se late sitting karne walo ko jyada increment milta hai rather who is working effectively n impactfully
— anuj garg (@ganuj11) October 1, 2020
30 & under here, thriving and living my best life without crushing my mental and physical health. So please stop with the glorification of toxic work culture. pic.twitter.com/zxaoWGvsQi
— PoromaPant (@PoromaPant) October 1, 2020
If there's one thing I know about working 12+ hours a day, it's that you sure as hell won't have time to dream https://t.co/9W7Jp7V5wp
— Claire (@clairestrickett) October 2, 2020
No some of us have a life outside of that 9 hour hell. If you're gonna make someone work after office hours you should pay them for the work they do on their own time. Corporate exploits every fucking thing they can. https://t.co/FoHugYWSyP
— L (@frustratedpepe) October 2, 2020
If you're working 12 hours a day, I shudder to think what shit quality output you're producing. https://t.co/4u1LOiN5qh
— Jaidev Deshpande (@jaidevd) October 2, 2020
If you're working more 12 hours, someone is making you a chutiya and get out of there as fast as you can. https://t.co/jJpodLtYtK
— Wazid Nipplewala (@DesiTsundere) October 2, 2020
If you’ve spent more time at a desk than looking at sunsets, laughing with friends or just being happy being you, you ain’t living big enough! https://t.co/UENzf3DfLJ
— Ashok George (@AshokGeorgy) October 2, 2020
At a time when companies are focusing on quality over quantity, are urging employees to take time offs and rejuvenate their minds, are making conscious decisions to get rid of this idea, it is disappointing to see Indian professionals holding on to this idea of toxic productivity.