Sitting for long hours at the desk? Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Pushkar Chawla shares how to protect the back and spine Published on: Aug 24, 2026, 13:58:18 IST By Debapriya Bhattacharya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Poor posture at work can lead to problems with the back and the spine
A patient once told me that her blood sugar reading in the morning was higher than the one she had taken after dinner the night before. She hadn’t eaten a single thing. “How is this even possible?" she asked. “I haven’t had breakfast yet." That question comes up in my clinic almost every
Step inside the regal Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, where a one-night stay will cost you ₹4 lakh: Watch Updated on: Aug 24, 2026, 14:06:37 IST By Krishna Pallavi Priya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link A look inside the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad
Every year at about this point in the rains, the same sequence plays out. Outpatient departments fill with feverish patients, a city announces a jump in confirmed cases, television rediscovers the phrase “swine flu," and within a fortnight the anxiety has moved on to something else
Onam gifting is often about more than simply handing over a box of sweets. The festival brings families and friends together, and a well-chosen hamper can combine traditional flavours with attractive packaging to make the occasion more special
‘Walking is one of the most underrated things’: Geriatric doctor says you don't need to join a gym to start exercising Published on: Aug 24, 2026, 10:52:55 IST By Eshana Saha Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Read more to find out why walking is an underrated form of exercise! (Unsplash)
There are few things as satisfying as biting into a buttery, flaky almond croissant, especially when you get that rich almond flavour, creamy frangipane filling and slightly crisp, toasted edges in every bite. But when a croissant craving hits and you don’t have a bakery run planned—or all the
Erling Haaland debuts new buzz haircut after chopping his iconic blonde locks: ‘+999 missed calls from shampoo company’ Updated on: Aug 24, 2026, 08:58:32 IST By Krishna Pallavi Priya Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Erling Haaland debuts a fresh, new buzz cut
Is It A Challenging Job Or A Toxic Workplace? Here’s How To Know The Difference
Is It A Challenging Job Or A Toxic Workplace? Here’s How To Know The Difference
In the early years of hustle culture, overwork was worn like a badge of honour. Staying late meant loyalty, exhaustion meant ambition, and burnout was the invisible tax of success. But as we move through 2025, a quieter rebellion is underway. Workers are no longer asking only “How can I get ahead?" but “What is the cost of getting there?"
The phrase emotional debt has entered workplace vocabulary, the exhaustion that accumulates when mental and emotional strain outpaces recovery. Unlike financial debt, this one doesn't show up in balance sheets but in sleepless nights, irritability, disconnection, and slow burnout. What this really means is that the modern professional isn't just tired, they're emotionally overdrawn.
The question now is not whether people can work hard, but whether they can work sustainably. And how do you tell when a demanding job becomes a toxic one?
What Changed Since the Early 2000s?
Two decades ago, the idea of “toughing it out" defined career success. Long hours were visible, predictable, and even romanticized, your day ended with your commute, and your boss couldn't reach you once you got home but today, the line between commitment and collapse has blurred.
Technology tethered us to our desks long after we left them. The smartphone became the modern office, turning every ping into an unspoken expectation. Even before the pandemic, remote work was creeping into personal time. Post-2020, it became the default, collapsing the boundary between professional and private life entirely.
The very structure of work changed autonomy expanded, but so did exposure to constant performance. We're not only working more; we're thinking about work all the time.
Are You Doing A Tough Job Or Trapped In A Toxic Workplace?
Not every demanding role is toxic, and not every toxic workplace looks visibly broken. The difference lies in what the stress produces. A challenging job stretches you, but it also replenishes you through growth, purpose, or recognition. A toxic workplace, on the other hand, only drains leaving you chronically anxious, undervalued, or replaceable.
As Kamlesh Prasad, Group Head, HR at SAVE Solutions, puts it, “Burnout doesn't start with collapse; it starts with subtle behavioural shifts. A previously motivated person may show exhaustion, irritability, or detachment. They might meet deadlines but lose their spark. When their drive stops fuelling productivity and starts draining energy, that's emotional debt building up."
The trick, he says, is to spot these shifts early. “Overcommitment is often mistaken for loyalty. True loyalty is sustainable performance, not endless sacrifice."
In other words, hard work feels energizing toxicity feels suffocating.
According to multiple reports on workplace burnout, nearly 70% of employees globally say they've experienced burnout in the past year, up from 55% in 2019. The study also found that those working more than 50 hours a week were twice as likely to report emotional exhaustion, even if they claimed to “love" their jobs.
Burnout, once seen as an individual problem, is now understood as a systemic one. Emotional debt builds when workplaces reward intensity over consistency, and endurance over empathy.
A related finding revealed that hybrid and remote workers report 30% higher emotional fatigue, largely due to blurred boundaries and always-on digital cultures. It's not the hours alone, it's the unending emotional vigilance that wears people down.
The modern worker, in short, is caught between freedom and fatigue.
For Malvika Agarwal, Head of Human Resources at Black Cab, shares how burnout looks less like crisis and more like quiet disconnection. “Employees who were once dependable start missing deadlines or disengaging from discussions. When effort comes from pressure, not passion, burnout has already set in."
She adds that poor boundaries are often glorified. “Companies reward constant availability as if it's devotion, but it's a fast track to exhaustion. True engagement is about longevity, not depletion."
Workers echo this sentiment, “I'm never off," said Raavi, a marketing executive in Mumbai. “Even rest feels like preparation for the next crisis."
Another, software engineer in Bangalore, Shauvik put it bluntly, “My body leaves the desk, but my brain doesn't."
Has The Pandemic Exposed Unhealthy Working Culture?
The pandemic didn't invent overwork; it made it visible. In the early 2000s, exhaustion was personal. In 2020, it became collective. For the first time, the world saw that “working from home" often meant living at work.
What changed post-pandemic was language. Words like burnout, boundaries, and mental health days entered everyday speech — not as corporate slogans but survival terms. Yet, as many experts note, culture shifted faster than systems.
Companies introduced wellness webinars, but emails still arrived at midnight. Some leaders spoke about empathy while quietly tracking log-in hours. The performance of care replaced genuine reform.
Prasad calls this the “soft toxicity" of modern work, workplaces that sound progressive but still quietly punish rest.
Signs You Are Part Of A Toxic Workplace
Emotional debt, like financial debt, accrues interest when ignored. It's not always dramatic; sometimes it's just the slow erosion of energy, joy, or patience. Here's how to recognise it before it compounds:
A challenging job pushes your limits but still leaves you with energy to recover. A toxic one keeps taking, even when there's nothing left to give.
How To Hit Reset on Work Stress?
Experts say the solution isn't radical, it's structural and cultural. True recovery begins when organisations move beyond slogans to systems. That means:
Training managers to recognise emotional fatigue
As Prasad notes, many leaders unconsciously reward burnout behaviour. Awareness training and open dialogue can stop that pattern early.
Normalising recovery as part of performance
Rest must be seen not as withdrawal but as maintenance, a crucial part of sustained excellence.
Swipe Left For Next Video
Encouraging boundary-setting
As Agarwal suggests, healthy boundaries don't reduce commitment, they preserve it. A well-rested employee performs better and lasts longer.
The question now is not whether people can work hard, but whether they can work sustainably. And how do you tell when a demanding job becomes a toxic one?
What Changed Since the Early 2000s?
Two decades ago, the idea of “toughing it out” defined career success. Long hours were visible, predictable, and even romanticized, your day ended with your commute, and your boss couldn't reach you once you got home but today, the line between commitment and collapse has blurred.
Technology tethered us to our desks long after we left them. The smartphone became the modern office, turning every ping into an unspoken expectation. Even before the pandemic, remote work was creeping into personal time. Post-2020, it became the default, collapsing the boundary between professional and private life entirely.
The very structure of work changed autonomy expanded, but so did exposure to constant performance. We're not only working more; we're thinking about work all the time.
Are You Doing A Tough Job Or Trapped In A Toxic Workplace?
Not every demanding role is toxic, and not every toxic workplace looks visibly broken. The difference lies in what the stress produces. A challenging job stretches you, but it also replenishes you through growth, purpose, or recognition. A toxic workplace, on the other hand, only drains leaving you chronically anxious, undervalued, or replaceable.
As Kamlesh Prasad, Group Head, HR at SAVE Solutions, puts it, “Burnout doesn't start with collapse; it starts with subtle behavioural shifts. A previously motivated person may show exhaustion, irritability, or detachment. They might meet deadlines but lose their spark. When their drive stops fuelling productivity and starts draining energy, that's emotional debt building up.”
The trick, he says, is to spot these shifts early. “Overcommitment is often mistaken for loyalty. True loyalty is sustainable performance, not endless sacrifice.”
In other words, hard work feels energizing toxicity feels suffocating.
According to multiple reports on workplace burnout, nearly 70% of employees globally say they've experienced burnout in the past year, up from 55% in 2019. The study also found that those working more than 50 hours a week were twice as likely to report emotional exhaustion, even if they claimed to “love” their jobs.
Burnout, once seen as an individual problem, is now understood as a systemic one. Emotional debt builds when workplaces reward intensity over consistency, and endurance over empathy.
A related finding revealed that hybrid and remote workers report 30% higher emotional fatigue, largely due to blurred boundaries and always-on digital cultures. It's not the hours alone, it's the unending emotional vigilance that wears people down.
The modern worker, in short, is caught between freedom and fatigue.
For Malvika Agarwal, Head of Human Resources at Black Cab, shares how burnout looks less like crisis and more like quiet disconnection. “Employees who were once dependable start missing deadlines or disengaging from discussions. When effort comes from pressure, not passion, burnout has already set in.”
She adds that poor boundaries are often glorified. “Companies reward constant availability as if it's devotion, but it's a fast track to exhaustion. True engagement is about longevity, not depletion.”
Workers echo this sentiment, “I'm never off,” said Raavi, a marketing executive in Mumbai. “Even rest feels like preparation for the next crisis.”
Another, software engineer in Bangalore, Shauvik put it bluntly, “My body leaves the desk, but my brain doesn't.”
Has The Pandemic Exposed Unhealthy Working Culture?
The pandemic didn't invent overwork; it made it visible. In the early 2000s, exhaustion was personal. In 2020, it became collective. For the first time, the world saw that “working from home” often meant living at work.
What changed post-pandemic was language. Words like burnout, boundaries, and mental health days entered everyday speech — not as corporate slogans but survival terms. Yet, as many experts note, culture shifted faster than systems.
Companies introduced wellness webinars, but emails still arrived at midnight. Some leaders spoke about empathy while quietly tracking log-in hours. The performance of care replaced genuine reform.
Prasad calls this the “soft toxicity” of modern work, workplaces that sound progressive but still quietly punish rest.
Signs You Are Part Of A Toxic Workplace
Emotional debt, like financial debt, accrues interest when ignored. It's not always dramatic; sometimes it's just the slow erosion of energy, joy, or patience. Here's how to recognise it before it compounds:
A challenging job pushes your limits but still leaves you with energy to recover. A toxic one keeps taking, even when there's nothing left to give.
How To Hit Reset on Work Stress?
Experts say the solution isn't radical, it's structural and cultural. True recovery begins when organisations move beyond slogans to systems. That means:
Training managers to recognise emotional fatigue
As Prasad notes, many leaders unconsciously reward burnout behaviour. Awareness training and open dialogue can stop that pattern early.
Normalising recovery as part of performance
Rest must be seen not as withdrawal but as maintenance, a crucial part of sustained excellence.
Encouraging boundary-setting
As Agarwal suggests, healthy boundaries don't reduce commitment, they preserve it. A well-rested employee performs better and lasts longer.
Scan the QR code to download the News18 app and enjoy a seamless news experience anytime, anywhere.
Source: News18
Related Posts: overwork, burnout, toxic workplace, emotional health, work stress, job burnout, employee wellbeing, workplace mental health, work life balance, stress management
Parents should check medicine labels carefully before giving cough or cold remedies to young children. The Union Health Ministry has restricted all fixed-dose combination medicines containing chlorpheniramine maleate and phenylephrine hydrochloride from being used in children below four years of
12 hours ago
Tandoori chicken should be smoky and seared on the outside, yet juicy and tender on the inside. But it can often turn out dry, rubbery and lacking flavour, even when you’ve used all the right spices. The problem may not be the recipe itself, but a few small mistakes during preparation and cooking
1 days ago
Want to know how healthy your heart is? Cardiologist Dr Sanjay Bhojraj lists 9 blood tests for ‘cardiovascular risk’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 14:34:50 IST By Akanksha Agnihotri Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Dr. Bhojraj highlights nine blood tests to assess cardiovascular health
1 days ago
We tend to think of constipation as a plumbing problem: eat more fibre, drink more water, take isabgol and wait for things to move. For occasional constipation, that approach can be perfectly reasonable. But when constipation keeps returning despite these measures
1 days ago
Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting women, but its biggest known cause is persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), which is closely linked to sexual transmission. While HPV itself is not caused by men
1 days ago
Chakra Horoscope Today, August 23, 2026: An obstacle does not necessarily mean you are on the wrong path Updated on: Aug 23, 2026, 14:49:03 IST By Kishori Sud Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Chakra Horoscope Today, August 23, 2026 (Pinterest) Daily Chakra Horoscope, August 23
1 days ago
Dahi vade may not be the first dish that comes to mind when planning a Sawan Somwar vrat menu, but Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s fasting-friendly version gives the classic snack a clever twist. Instead of lentils, these vade are made with cooked barnyard millet, also known as sama or samak
1 days ago
59-year-old grandmother and Roadies 20 contestant Ashu Jain shares 5 hacks that helped her 'build gym habits that stick’ Published on: Aug 23, 2026, 10:12:34 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Ashu Jain is not just a grandmother — she's a 'hybrid athlete'
1 days ago
Could artificial intelligence compress decades of medical progress into just a few years? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes advanced AI systems may soon transform how we fight cancer, Alzheimer’s and other major diseases. Amodei has predicted that AI-enabled biology could compress 50 to 100
1 days ago
Look out of an aircraft window as it descends into Chennai and the coastline is the first thing that catches your eye. A long blue-grey edge against the city, with the sea on one side and the sprawling city on the other. From up there, it looks permanent
1 days ago
Soha Ali Khan, along with her husband Kunal Khemu, is known for setting couple goals through their fitness content. The couple have consistently shared videos showing their workouts in the gym, how they parent their kids together, the healthy food they eat without compromising on taste
1 days ago
As Onam 2026 approaches, here is our curated guide from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Bengaluru covering everything from elaborate restaurant thalis to convenient takeaway sadya boxes. We consult chefs on how they are reimagining the traditional sadya; we ask celebrities how
1 days ago
Raksha Bandhan is all about celebrating the special bond between siblings. This year, show your siblings how much you mean to them and make the occasion sweeter by making everyone’s favourite kalakand at home. If you are looking for a festive dessert that is indulgent yet skips refined sugar
1 days ago
Thirty-nine-year-old Shivendra came in with what looked like an ordinary monsoon fever. Fifteen days later, he was still in hospital, only being discharged now after being diagnosed with H1N1-related pneumonia. His wife, Poonam, said the family did not take the fever seriously at first. “Actually
1 days ago
Postpartum pain is NOT just ‘normal’: Physiotherapist Muskan Rastogi reveals all about pelvic floor recovery Postpartum recovery involves more than just pain management; it includes pelvic floor rehabilitation to restore strength and reduce discomfort for new mothers. Published on: Aug 23, 2026
1 days ago
Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug has been arrested in the US state of Texas on charges of driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and illegal possession of a firearm. Allen County Police confirmed to BBC Newsbeat the 28-year-old, whose real name is Xavier Landum, was stopped on Friday
1 days ago
44-year-old fitness coach shares simple exercises that help her look ‘15 years younger’ Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 13:24:38 IST By Akanksha Agnihotri Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Fitness coach shares 4 simple exercises to improve posture and look more youthful. (Instagram/@sascha
2 days ago
The Madhya Pradesh Health Department has ordered a high-level medical and legal investigation after a 6 woman from Ujjain died following treatment at a private hospital in Indore. She had tested positive for H1N1 influenza, commonly called swine flu
2 days ago
No food after 6 pm to boxing: Inside Dua Lipa’s fitness routine and fasting rules for toned body on her 31st birthday Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 14:11:05 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Dua Lipa turned 31 on August 22, 2026
2 days ago
The DJ dropped the beat and 70 women started throwing punches. By the time the first kickboxing combination was called out, Moon Bar, a Visakhapatnam club had shed its weekend persona to turn into a makeshift fitness floor, with women punching, kicking
2 days ago
A couple of years ago, when Osman Abdul Razak was being fitted for a suit by Yuki Igarashi, founder of Japan-based menswear brand Lecteur, he recalls being struck by how neatly Yuki’s pins were arranged on his pin cushion. “As an onlooker there, I couldn’t help but analyse this precision
2 days ago
Baro Market is coming to Chennai with a pop-up bringing together fashion, craft, art, accessories and lifestyle products, with a focus on conscious living and handcrafted design. Curated by Srila Chatterjee, the showcase marks her third pop-up in the city
2 days ago
Step inside ₹200 crore royal residence in Hyderabad: Shaped like a scorpion and home to 'world's longest dining table' Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 10:22:41 IST By Sanya Panwar Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link The palace in the shape of a scorpion: Here's a virtual tour of the magnificent
2 days ago
On Fourth Trust Link Street at Santhome in Mylapore, a piece of vacant land cheek by jowl with a Greater Chennai Corporation-run middle school was being armtwisted every day into functioning as a garbage dumping spot by residents and passersby
2 days ago
The rise in H1N1 cases across Delhi-NCR is prompting fresh concern among doctors as some patients develop severe breathing difficulties and falling oxygen levels. While swine flu often causes flu-like symptoms, it can sometimes progress to serious respiratory complications
2 days ago
Happy Birthday Chiranjeevi: Telugu cinema icon Chiranjeevi has spent more than four decades building one of Indian cinema’s most enduring careers. From his breakthrough years to becoming the industry’s celebrated Megastar, the actor has continued taking on demanding roles that require energy
2 days ago
Have high cholesterol? Nutritionist lists 9 heart-friendly cooking oil options Published on: Aug 22, 2026, 11:00:04 IST By Aayushi Gupta Prefer HTon Google Share via Copy link Cooking oils that may help manage cholesterol and support heart health
2 days ago
