'Time to quit?': Employee asked to work on weekends, 'be alert for 24 hrs' triggers debate

Several commenters urged the poster to start looking for a new job, warning that such expectations rarely ease once normalised.

A Reddit user has triggered a fresh debate on Indian workplace boundaries after the employee described being asked to work weekends and remain “alert for 24 hours,” prompting a blunt question: Is it time to quit?

The post, shared on r/IndianWorkplace, by user GoodSoup_96 outlined a pattern of escalating demands—regular weekend work, late‑night messages, and expectations of round‑the‑clock availability, with little clarity on compensation or time off.

The employee clarified that they have more than eight years of experience and it's been like this ever since they joined the company a year ago. "Pretty much everything like working for 20 hours and availability on weekends are normalised here. Is it time to quit or is this a normal thing that should be ignored?" the user asked.

While they stopped short of naming the employer, the account resonated widely, drawing hundreds of comments from employees who said the experience felt uncomfortably familiar.

'Want 24x7 availability? Pay for 24x7 availability'

Several commenters urged the poster to start looking for a new job, warning that such expectations rarely ease once normalised. “If they want 24x7 availability, they should be paying for 24x7 availability,” one user wrote. Others advised documenting requests in writing, setting firm boundaries, or pushing back through HR—though many acknowledged the risks involved in speaking up.

The reactions echo a broader pattern of viral workplace complaints surfacing on Reddit in recent months, particularly around unpaid overtime and weekend mandates.

Earlier this month, a company allegedly made attendance at a 12‑hour AI hackathon on a Saturday mandatory—warning employees that skipping it would result in a deduction of three days’ salary under leave without pay. 

The internal notice, shared anonymously on Reddit, framed the hackathon as “upskilling,” but employees and legal commentators questioned whether docking more pay than the day missed violated India’s Payment of Wages Act. Reddit users described it as “forced weekend work disguised as learning,” while others warned that non‑compliance could invite informal retaliation.