Employee compares same roles in US and India, finds a glaring difference in workload

An employee compared his working conditions in India with those of US colleagues in similar roles. The post triggered a wider debate on outsourcing, pay gaps and workplace culture in the tech sector.Employee compares same roles in US and India, finds a glaring difference in workload (Photo: Representational Image from Pexels)An employee compared the workload and workplace expectations faced by his Indian and US-based colleagues, saying the stark difference had made him question how employees were treated across the two countries.The employee shared his experience in a Reddit post on the subreddit r/IndianWorkplace, titled, “Why there is difference between US and India employees?”He explained that he worked alongside US-based colleagues who held the same positions and handled similar roles, but their day-to-day working conditions were markedly different.He claimed that employees in the US were generally assigned no more than two projects at a time and could push back when additional work was given to them. He said that their concerns about workload and work-life balance were respected by management, while employees in India were expected to handle significantly more projects.He claimed that having only two projects was sometimes viewed negatively in his Indian team, where managing three or four projects was considered the minimum and some employees were handling as many as six simultaneously. The employee also pointed to the difference in compensation and working arrangements. He claimed that his US counterparts earned three to four times more despite working remotely, while he was required to attend the office at least three times a week and had to explain his absence to his manager.He said his US colleagues were themselves surprised by these expectations and had encouraged him to raise the issue with management, although he felt that doing so would be unlikely to bring about any meaningful change.The employee questioned why people working in similar roles were treated so differently depending on where they were based. He also argued that the pressure placed on Indian employees had reduced them to little more than workers expected to continuously take on more work.Take a look at the post here:The post prompted a discussion about workplace culture in India's technology sector, with several Reddit users attributing the disparity to the country's role in global outsourcing.One user argued that India's technology industry was largely built around “wage arbitrage”, suggesting that companies could hire similarly skilled employees in India for substantially lower costs and therefore had little incentive to offer the same compensation and benefits available to workers in developed markets.Another blamed workplace culture, particularly among senior management, saying that some leaders took pride in employees working beyond reasonable limits to satisfy clients or overseas colleagues.The discussion also extended beyond India-US comparisons. One Reddit user claimed that even employees working for the same company could face different policies depending on their location, citing an example of Pune and Bengaluru offices where employees with the same roles and project responsibilities received different perks and benefits.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Aug 12, 2026 20:20 IST