Techie Stock Surprising Question Asked by Bengaluru Company in Job Application Form. (Photo: Amnesty International)
A technician who recently returned to India from the US shared his experience of adjusting to the work culture in India and highlighted a surprising question in the online application form.
Taking to Reddit, the technical expert said that the application form contained all the other standard questions, but there was a question placed between the salary expectations and the notice period question. It was a mandatory selection field, meaning the applicant could not skip the question; They have to either “tick” or “cross” it.The question is: Are you comfortable with daily late evening calls?The tech said the question provided neither context nor nuance; It was just a yes no question.“In the US tech industry, your evenings are your own. Sure, stressful times happen sometimes. But the daily expectation of logging back in after dinner to catch up with US time zones causes massive exhaustion. Here, Indian tech companies use this as a pre-filter to weed out anyone who wants a normal personal life,” the tech wrote.“I love the energy of the tech scene in Bengaluru. The drive and ambition in this city is incredible.
But seeing this question as an official requirement on a job portal made me stop. This is my first major alert about the difference in work-life balance between the US and India. In the United States, employers expect limits. “In the Indian corporate world, giving up those boundaries seems like the price of admission,” the tech expert wrote, seeking advice from other NRIs returning to India.Reactions to the Reddit post were generally unanimous that this is an Indian setup, and that Indian companies in the US also want their employees to be available 24/7.
Some Redditors pointed out that companies around the world operate in the US time zone, which is why only companies based in America spend their evenings there.The tech said that some evening availability for coordination across time zones is understandable, but treating this as a mandatory check-box requirement right at the implementation stage rather than as flexible collaboration as needed is surprising.