‘Calls at 9.30 pm’: Australian woman shocked by work culture in India— watch

An Australian podcast producer living in India has shared her observations about the country's work culture.

Bree Steele, who has been living in India since 2023, spoke about her experience in a video posted on Instagram.

“I've observed like my friends get work calls at like 9.30 at night. And there's no work life balance here. The expectations on like corporate workers is just so high,” she said.

She said she was initially surprised to see how common it was for middle-class and wealthy families to employ people for household chores such as cooking, cleaning and laundry.

“I don't cook or clean in India, like chores, I don't know them,” Steele said. “Because most middle class to wealthy households in India have house help. Most people have someone who does their cleaning, maybe they're washing, they're cooking, whatever you need, you can get that help.”

She said she first found the practice unusual because, in countries such as Australia, people generally manage both their jobs and household responsibilities on their own. “And my friend was like, well, Bri, you know, it's just not feasible. We can't do all of our own cooking and cleaning and everything. And I was like, that's what we do in the West. We do everything ourselves with full time jobs.”

However, Steele said her view changed after spending more time in India and observing the demands placed on many corporate employees.


According to Steele, these work pressures leave many people with little time to handle daily household tasks themselves. She concluded that the combination of long working hours and affordable domestic labour has made household help a practical solution for many families.

“You don't have time to do your own cooking and cleaning. And for better or for worse, labor is cheap in India. So it makes sense that everyone has their own house help,” she said.

Steele also admitted that she had become accustomed to the arrangement. “And I have to say, I'm ashamed at how much I'm enjoying it. And I'm ashamed at how easy it is to get out of the habit of doing your own cleaning,” she added.

Recently, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy faced criticism online after advocating a 72-hour workweek. Murthy argued that longer working hours could help accelerate India's growth and cited China's “996” work culture, working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, as an example.

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