Varsha, an Amazon employee, moved from India to the U.S. She found the work culture very different. Lunch breaks were solitary. The office was quieter. There was less handholding. Coworkers kept personal and professional lives separate. Emails did not arrive late at night. It was emotionally challenging. But she adjusted and found her rhythm. It eventually felt like home.
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After seven years of working in India in a product marketing role at Amazon, Varsha thought switching countries with the same company would feel familiar. But she was wrong, as she shared in an Instagram post. Moving to the U.S. with job sounded like a dream as she switched to U.S. with the same company with similar responsibilities. But she wasn’t prepared for how different everything would feel, even though the job title stayed the same. It wasn’t just a new country, it was a whole new world and culture of work.<br /><br /><!– PROMOSLOT_M –><div class=” article-detail-ad-slot=”” captionrendered=”1″ data-src=”https://etimg.etb2bimg.com/photo/122576675.cms” height=”442″ loading=”eager” src=”https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/default.jpg” width=”590″>
Here are the cultural shocks she experienced as she made the move from corporate life in India to the corporate life in United States.
In India, lunch means gathering around a table, swapping stories, sharing dabbas, and laughing between bites. It is a part of the day everyone looked forward to. But in the U.S., lunch is often a quiet, personal break. People eat at their desks, go for a walk, or grab something quickly between meetings, usually alone. It took a while for her to adjust to the lack of that midday bonding time. It’s not rude, it’s just how things are done here.
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<br />One thing Varsha found tough initially was the emotional distance. In India, coworkers often become friends, people you hang out with after work or even consider part of your inner circle. But, in the U.S., people are generally friendly but keep their work and personal lives separate. Small talk is common, but deep relationships are slower to form. It can feel isolating, but eventually, those connections do come, just in a different way and timeline.<br /><br /><!– PROMOSLOT_M –><div class=” article-detail-ad-slot=”” captionrendered=”1″ data-src=”https://etimg.etb2bimg.com/photo/122563907.cms” height=”442″ loading=”eager” src=”https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/default.jpg” width=”590″>
