A video of a woman named Udita calling out what she describes as the toxic glorification of overwork in Indian corporate culture has gone viral on Instagram, racking up over one lakh views and drawing a wave of responses from people who say they have faced similar experiences.
In the video, Udita recounts an interview she recently attended. She says she asked the HR representative how many working days were in a week, to which the HR replied that it was six. She then asked whether there was any work-from-home facility available on Saturdays. The HR's response, she says, was that the company needed people with a "CEO-level attitude."
Udita says she then calmly asked whether the company was, in fact, hiring for the position of Chief Executive Officer. The HR reportedly ended the call without a word.
The clip touches on a question that has been gaining ground in public conversation across India: why is overworking being treated as a virtue? Udita directly asks her viewers why having a work-life balance is considered a failing, and whether setting reasonable boundaries at the workplace should disqualify a candidate from a job.
She captioned the video: "Asked for WFH on Saturdays, got told they need a CEO-level attitude. If setting boundaries disqualifies me, I am okay missing out, because real leadership is not about overworking, it is about knowing your worth."
The comment section quickly filled up with users sharing their own frustrations. "CEO level bol ke majdur level ki salary ke sath gulam level ka kaam chahiye," wrote one commenter, which roughly translates to demanding slave-level work at a worker's wage while expecting the ambition of a chief executive. Another user wrote: "At times I wonder what attitude these HR people actually have. Once I simply asked an HR where the office was, and she was being rude about that." A third commenter summed up the broader sentiment: "Overwork and toxicity are glorified in the name of hard work."
The video has clearly struck a chord with working professionals across the country, reigniting a familiar but urgent conversation about boundaries, dignity, and what a healthy workplace should actually look like.
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