Employee Compares Indian And Japanese Bosses’ Replies On Leave Request, Viral Post Sparks Debate On Workplace Culture

Viral Reddit Post: A viral Reddit post has kicked off a heated discussion online about how managers treat their employees differently across cultures. The post highlighted a striking comparison between a Japanese manager and an Indian manager and the way both responded to a simple leave request. The Reddit user shared two screenshots titled “Difference between a Japanese Manager and an Indian Manager,” showing just how different their tones were.

The Japanese manager replied politely, saying, “Good day! Well noted. Please be careful on your way home.” In contrast, the Indian manager’s response was short and strict: “Approved. Please be online on Teams and mail.” Explaining the situation, the employee wrote, "I had to go back to my hometown for some urgent work, and I currently have at least 7 CLs left. I have 2 reporting Managers. One is a Japanese person and the other is an Indian. Although both of them approved my leave but they have such contrasting behaviors. The Indian is acting as if he's doing me a personal favour by approving my leave."

The post quickly went viral, with people reacting to it. Many users praised the Japanese manager’s thoughtful and respectful tone, while others said the Indian manager’s reply reflected a common corporate culture that often lacks empathy.

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Watch The Viral Post Here:

Difference between a Japanese Manager and an Indian Manager
byu/itidao inIndianWorkplace

The post was shared two days ago by r/IndianWorkplace and garnered more than 5K upvotes from people. "I used to work under a Ukrainian project manager, when I used to apply a "fake" sick leave he used say something like "Get well soon, may god heal you" and that made me a little guilty. Currently when I report to Indian manager, he asks, Why are you sick on a Monday morning?" a user wrote. "

"My manager had the audacity to say, 'Why does everybody fall sick on Fridays?' like yeah, I'll tell my stupid body to postpone the sickness because it's ducking Friday and it's illegal to have a long weekend," a second user wrote. "See, this is why Indian managers are the way they are. They, too, have risen up the ranks and employed such tactics to get leaves. Which is why they know when the people under them will be doing the same," wrote a third user.

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"Dude, being an Indian, I am honestly scared to be a manager. I can’t bear to be this much disappointed in my subordinates," added a fourth user. "I have made a habit of informing my managers of my leave, instead of requesting it, and ever since, their responses have improved. It used to be "I would like to request days off" and got answers like "can you postpone it", "make sure to be available", "don't forget to ... before your day off". Now it's "please be informed i will be taking days off" and their answer is "thank you for informing me", hope everything is fine," a fifth user shared.