Employee gets asked to work every weekend. Netizens react: 'They are stealing her labour'

A startling exchange between a manager and an employee has been making waves online, particularly on the Indian Workplace subreddit, where it has reignited discussions around work-life boundaries and unreasonable employer demands. The incident centers on a professional who was caught off guard when her manager insisted she be available to work every single weekend without exception.

The employee, in a WhatsApp message shared with the subreddit, clearly communicated her unavailability for weekend work. She explained that she was currently in her hometown without access to her work laptop, making it impossible to log in over the weekend. Looking ahead, she stated that she wouldn’t be able to commit to weekend hours moving forward either.

Despite that, she assured her team that all tasks and responsibilities would be completed within regular business hours during the workweek. She also expressed gratitude for the team’s support and requested that any urgent matters be flagged in advance so she could prioritize them at the start of the week.

The manager, however, didn’t take this lightly. He responded by stating that the current working arrangement wasn’t viable in the long term and that changes needed to be implemented. He announced that a team meeting would be held on Monday to address the issue and chart a way forward.

Two alternatives were put on the table: either team members would need to put in full eight-hour shifts at the office every Saturday and Sunday or add two extra hours to their daily schedules during the weekdays for the next three weeks. The manager ended the conversation by asking everyone to be mentally ready to resume duties under the new guidelines starting Monday.

The situation ignited strong reactions from Reddit users. One user remarked that what was happening amounted to exploitation and advised the employee to stand firm. Others echoed similar sentiments, warning against giving in to weekend work unless it was due to personal negligence during the week. A user questioned whether this demand stemmed from unmet deadlines or if it was an arbitrary increase in expectations. The original poster clarified that the demand applied to the entire team and was likely a result of increased workload—though the message had been conveyed more as a directive than a request.