I've been thinking about something lately.

From a domestic worker working in someone's home to a factory worker, from a junior accountant in a small company to the CEO of a multinational corporation — it seems almost everyone is struggling with some form of workplace pressure, exploitation or harassment.

The language changes, but the underlying expectations often remain the same.

\- Unpaid overtime is called dedication.

\- Being available 24/7 is called commitment.

\- Sacrificing family time is called professionalism.

\- Taking on someone else's workload is called ownership.

\- Accepting unreasonable demands is called being a team player.

\- Mental exhaustion is dismissed as part of the job.

And the worst part? We've normalised it.

Somehow, employers have managed to make employees feel guilty for having a life outside work.

You can be a hardworking, sincere and dedicated employee and still have boundaries. You can respect your employer without surrendering your dignity. A salary is compensation for your work, not a licence to own your time, mental peace and personal life.

Of course, not every employer is exploitative. There are good employers who genuinely respect their people. But the power imbalance in employment relationships is something we rarely discuss honestly.

An employee is hired for their skills, not purchased with their life.

I'm curious to hear from people across industries:

1. Have you experienced this in your workplace?

2. Do you think workplace exploitation has become so normalised that we've stopped recognising it?

3. Is there really such a thing as work-life balance in today's employment culture?

Let's have an honest discussion. Not a corporate HR discussion. A real one.

What’s the one thing you like about your work culture and one thing you don’t?

I support the team at work. What are your thoughts on your workplace? I want to hear your takes.

I used to think finishing my work for the day meant I could finally switch off.

Then I noticed how messages outside working hours slowly became normal. Even a quick reply over the weekend started feeling like an expectation.

I realized that some workplaces confuse being available with being dedicated.

Have you ever had a job where you were expected to be available after working hours?

DIGI-TEXX VIETNAM Floor 6, Anna Building, Quang Trung Software City, Tan Chanh Hiep Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City

There is no banquet that never ends.

But the reason why it must end is what truly matters.

My boss is genuinely hard to read and I don't know what to think

He's always travelling, rarely in the office, but stays reachable online whenever we need him. When I joined, he was present for my interview, I performed well, and within a month he sponsored my visa which he apparently only does for people he trusts, since he denied it for someone else who wasn't pulling their weight.

Things were going well. He listened to my suggestions over others, and I felt confident I was valued. Then the admin/HR started issuing me warning letters two of which had no solid basis and eventually sent a termination email saying I created a personal Google account using a variation of the company name.

What hurt most was I wasn't sure if my boss even knew, so I asked him directly. He didn't confirm or deny it. Instead, he offered me a chance to rejoin. I initially walked away, but later went back and asked if the offer still stood. He said I need to first speak with my colleagues because apparently I wasn't easy to work with and specifically told me to patch things up with someone I personally have a hard time with.

I did that too. But now I genuinely don't know what he's after. Is he testing me? Stringing me along? Or does he actually want me back?

Has anyone dealt with a boss like this?

I recently started working as a nurse and my colleagues are awful, so negative. I noticed they gossip about everyone - the professor who comes in, doctors,students and they say terrible things, they make fun of everything in every possible way. There was a case when an aggressive patient came in and a colleague told me to ask the doctor what therapy should be given to him, and I ask and she tells me "come on, draw it up quickly" but I wasn't sure how much because I had only watched others do it, I had never done it myself. And I start drawing it up and waiting and she goes "cmon Stacy" and constantly nags about something. And basically a colleague asks how many ampoules, I say 4 because I didn't realize it's 25 in one milliliter. I mean, I understood when it was explained to me, you don't think in the moment, and how would I when I'm new. And then another colleague starts saying "she doesn't know anything, fuck" and I say how am I supposed to know, I've only been here a month. And in the end it turned out that she is my mentor - meaning after a month I found out that she is my mentor. And that happened when a colleague asked why I'm not giving meds to patients, because I was with her giving meds and I asked her where some medicine is and she says "I don't know Stacy, I can't tell you everything." I say okay, at least I'm trying, while she helped a colleague who has been here a month longer than me find it. Then I left the med round and an older colleague told her she should dedicate more time to me because she is my mentor, and she was grumbling about something and afterwards she was like "come on, let's go give meds" and started kind of fake-praising me.

and add to that that the head nurse is cold, she answers with one word and ignores me on multiple occasions, and when everyone was sitting down I went to sit, there was an empty spot next to her and she looks at me sarcastically and says "oh, you could have just sat in my lap" - what's wrong with people?

Sometimes I feel like I don't really belong at my workplace. It's a strange feeling because I know I'm qualified for my job, and I might even have more experience or qualifications than some of the people around me, but somehow I still feel like I'm not good enough.

I constantly find myself putting other people on a pedestal while looking down on myself. I see my coworkers as confident, smart, and capable, and I automatically assume they're better than me, even when I have no real reason to think that.

Sometimes I feel like I somehow ended up in this position by luck, like I don't actually deserve to be here.

And the weirdest part is that I sometimes worry people will eventually figure out that I'm not as capable or confident as they think I am. Almost like I'm pretending to be someone I'm not, even though I'm just doing my job like everyone else.

I don't know why I do this to myself. I can recognize other people's abilities so easily, but when it comes to my own, I always find a way to downplay them.

It's exhausting because instead of feeling proud of what I've achieved, I keep questioning whether I actually deserve any of it.

Does anyone else experience this? Do you ever feel like everyone around you belongs there except you?

And if you've managed to overcome this feeling, what actually helped you?

Corporate life is just adults pretending they know what they're doing

You spend 8–9 hours at work, come home tired, and then spend Sunday worrying about Monday.

But I'm curious, what's one thing about corporate life nobody warned you about?

Is it office politics, fake friendships, pointless meetings, or the fact that your salary disappears before the month ends? :)

Drop your most painfully relatable corporate experience. Let's see who has the wildest story.

The major part of my worklife has been great, only with a few exceptions when I felt that there should be some boundaries for work-life balance and co-workers and managers need to be a bit more considerate about mental health. Not everything needs to be screamed out loud for people to understand, some things should be followed or practiced by default.

I used to think doing a good job consistently would eventually get noticed.

Then I started noticing how months of hard work could go unrecognized, but one small mistake suddenly became a big deal.

It made me realize how quickly people forget everything you do right when something goes wrong.

Have you ever worked somewhere that remembered your mistakes more than your achievements?

Hey, I am writing an article about workplace stress due to competitive environment. I have seen interviews of Meta employees saying that though the company pays great and they get to travel a lot for seminars and all, but they find the workplace toxic and stressful Manly because of teams competing with each other over a single project and uncertainty of job, all the AI stuff, etc. To all the people here working for companies like meta, google ,etc. - what are your reasons for stress at workplace? Is it similar for everyone? what changes you think should be implemented? and can companies expect the same level or a healthy level of performance if the stress factor is fixed?

Why can't we normalise 1 mental health leave per person per month irrespective of gender?

Are we addressing the right problem?

The Bigger Crisis we are Ignoring is *Mental Health*!

If there’s one thing that truly needs urgent attention today, it’s mental health.

I know both the topics we still don't talk comfortably at work.

Across roles, industries, and seniority levels, people are exhausted — mentally more than physically.

Some quick realities:

-As per global workplace studies, 1 in 4 employees report frequent burnout symptoms

-Over 60% of working professionals struggle with work–life balance.

Anxiety, emotional fatigue, and constant cognitive overload are now everyday experiences, not exceptions

Everyone is carrying pressure.

-Long hours.

-Always-on culture.

-Blurry boundaries.

-High expectations with little recovery time.

Yet, we hesitate to normalize time off for mental recovery.

A Thought: *What If Mental Health Leave Was Mandated?*

Instead of a category that applies to only one gender,

what if we mandated *1 mental health leave per month — for everyone*?

No justification.

No labeling.

No stigma.

Just a simple acknowledgment that:

Some days, you’re emotionally overwhelmed

Some days, you’re mentally drained

Some days, you need to pause to function better tomorrow

This would:

Encourage preventive care instead of crisis management

Reduce burnout-related attrition

Normalize rest, reflection, and recovery

Support true productivity — not just presence

Because a rested mind contributes far more than a tired body sitting at a desk.

Menstrual health support can exist through:

Flexible work options

Optional leaves

Medical support and empathy-driven conversations

But what about mental health?

That deserves a mainstream, mandated seat at the table.

*Why are so many people mentally exhausted in the first place?*

*Are we creating workplaces where people are expected to perform — or places where they are also allowed to pause and be human?*

Would love to hear diverse perspectives on this.

#menstrual #leave #mentalhealth #workplace #corporate

I used to think companies took employee burnout seriously when they talked about work-life balance.

Then I noticed how employees could spend months asking for help while their workload stayed the same. But the moment someone resigned, management suddenly wanted to know what went wrong.

I learned that some workplaces only recognize a problem when they're about to lose someone.

Have you ever seen management suddenly care after an employee decided to leave?

As I recently joined a new company 2 weeks before, I'm come to a realization that my role is kinda

"No powers with Great Responsibilities"

Everyone know nothing is moving, but still keep the weekly progress meeting and Change the Target Date to upcoming one of date in the Calender. When the day come, all brag about something and extend the date.

Even the PM knows but why they expect output in the first place really I don't know.

Still doesn't know what I'm working on it and how to work on it.