'Personal life should be sorted': Mumbai firm's bizarre job requirement goes viral

A Mumbai-based company’s unusual job requirement is going viral amidst growing conversations about work-life balance. The firm posted a job vacancy for a Talent Acquisition Executive at its Navi Mumbai office, along with a list of qualifications for prospective candidates.

The requirements start off with standard expectations - the interested candidate should have experience in the BPO industry, be able to manage client relationships, have a go-getter personality, and be able to carry out market intelligence research etc. However, the last line of the job description is rather telling of the work culture - “Personal life should be sorted with no baggage,” reads the requirement.

The job posting, shared on Naukri.com, made its way to the popular Reddit forum “Recruiting Hell,” where it faced massive backlash.

Take a look at the post below:

People on Reddit were largely critical of the requirement, calling it reflective of a work culture that does not allow employees to prioritise their family life. The post also went viral at a time when Indians are speaking out against toxic offices, spurred on by the shocking death of a 26-year-old Ernst & Young employee in Pune.

The employee, named Anna Sebastian Perayil, died just four months after joining EY India’s audit and assurance team. In an explosive letter addressed to the firm’s chairman, Rajiv Memani, Perayil’s mother Anita Augustine had called out EY for overworking her daughter.

Reddit comments

The comments on the Reddit post on the job posting were overwhelmingly negative.

“Ability to get sick? Have a family? We're not interested then,” wrote one Redditor.

“Employers need to be legally forced to treat employees with basic respect,” another opined.

Many said they were not surprised to see that this requirement came from an Indian company.

“India, so not surprised. The professional work/life imbalance over there is reaching Japan levels,” wrote one Reddit user. “And of course it is from India. As an Indian I just couldn't stress how toxic the workplace in India is,” another added.