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‘Applying for vacation is like asking your manager for kidney’: techie living in Germany criticises work culture in India

Sharing a montage of his work life in Germany, the techie emphasised that employees’ well-being is not the priority in India.

2 min readNew DelhiDec 4, 2025 04:41 PM IST

The techie emphasised that employees’ well-being is not the priority in India (Image source: @bong.in.germany/Instagram)

Kaustav Banerjee, a software engineer living in Germany, opened up about the country’s work culture, drawing a stark comparison with that in India. Originally from Kolkata, Banerjee listed the differences in an Instagram post, highlighting how the work-life balance concept is sidelined in Indian offices, often leading to burnout.

“It’s very common in Indian workplaces to burn out yourself and give 200%. That is the expectation and that is what everyone does. So if you don’t do it, you will start falling back in the race,” Banerjee wrote in his post.

Sharing a montage of his work life in Germany, Banerjee emphasised that employees’ well-being is not the priority in India; however, in Germany, he experienced a better culture with “numerous good things”.

“Nobody cares about your well being, your health. Your family is not even in the picture!! Nobody cares what you are going through, how you are feeling. It’s only work work work. You need to keep on delivering at high speed,” he added.

Banerjee further wrote, “Vacation days are only for the company to abide by the labor laws. They are just for show. You cannot avail them. You have to work on weekends if project requires. You might or might not get a compensatory off, but again it will add to your leave balance – you are not allowed to take it.”

“Applying for vacation is like asking your manager for his/her kidney,” he wrote.

Watch here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kaustav Banerjee (@bong.in.germany)

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The video quickly drew attention, evoking a conversation on work culture in India. “I don’t know how many times I killed my grand parents who reached heaven decades ago to take leaves which I get with my ctc and have all rights to utilise them,” a user chimed in. “True. There is a great difference in work culture,” another user commented.

“12yrs the changes are incredible,” a third user reacted.