No work emails between 6 pm and 8 am: Amazon India boss tells employees

The head of Amazon India's business has reportedly asked his employees to get a life - quite literally. In an email, which was leaked and accessed by news agency Bloomberg, Amit Agarwal has told his team to stop responding to emails or work calls between 6 pm and 8 am.

The note, which has now been circulated on social media, has raised a number of eyebrows, given that people who have worked at Amazon have had burnouts, primarily thanks to company founder Jeff Baezos' demanding personality.

Last year, French companies were recently ordered to guarantee employees a 'right to disconnect' from their office mails outside work hours, in order to reduce work-related stress. In Germany, managers are prohibited from contacting or connecting with staff who are on vacation; while South Korean employers need to stop asking employees the reasons behind taking annual leave and should stop emailing outside office hours.

In 2013, a survey by HR firm Randstad conducted amongst 7,000 professionals, including 850 in Bangalore, shows that 21% would quit and hunt for another job if the current one is leading to work-life imbalance.

Experts say Indians are, however, culturally conditioned to stay in office for long hours and not leave before their bosses. Moreover, many companies also judge employees depending on the hours they spend in offices.

Recently, motivational speaker Dr Nanditesh Nilay shared his views and thoughts on ‘Work Life Balance’ where he said, "The question arises whether you are doing physical exertion or it’s mental burn out. When a soldier braves in -40 degrees in Siachin he doesn’t suffer any mental stress. Then, does mental stress happen only in civil life?”

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