No talking to colleagues 'even for a second', no phone calls: Employee says jail is better than his workplace

The employee said jail is better than his office because he can 'at least stand up' if he wanted to. (Representational)

An employee described their office conditions as resembling a "jail" rather than a productive workspace in a post gaining traction on Reddit’s popular Indian workplace subreddit.

A screenshot of a message of an unidentified employee describes a rigid environment where they cannot look away from their desktop screen, even to rest their eyes, without risking reprimand. Phone usage is strictly forbidden, with calls from family allowed only in cases of extreme urgency.

Frequent restroom breaks are discouraged to avoid "time consumption," and even basic communication with coworkers is restricted to digital means. Instead of casually talking to colleagues nearby, the employee has to message or use Microsoft Teams—an arrangement seemingly intended to maintain a “chaotic-free” environment.

He began his message with a request: “Please make a reel on my current office environment.”

In the message he writes describing his unnamed workplace: “Silent office. No talking even for a second. Jail is better. At least I can talk there and look somewhere else or at least stand up if I want to.”

Cant even imagine working in this condition
byu/xZendic1 inIndianWorkplace

The post has attracted responses urging the employee to “name and shame” the company, exposing its practices on platforms like Glassdoor to warn prospective job seekers. “You should name and shame them so that others don’t even consider applying at this place,” one user commented. Another suggested that the only viable “solution” to escape the toxic environment was to “resign.”

In the increasingly vocal discussion about work-life balance and humane treatment in Indian offices, this post has underscored a troubling trend in certain corporate cultures. Some users even shared their own horror stories, drawing a bleak picture of restrictive policies in workplaces across the country.

Another commenter wrote, “These companies don’t just drain your health, they suck the life out of you. They need to be exposed so that people can avoid such soul-sucking workplaces.”

For this latest post, capturing a microcosm of grievances against authoritarian office environments, the original poster is yet to name the company.