Imagine walking into your office and knowing that only 15% of your colleagues feel they are thriving, while more than one in five feel they are suffering. That’s the reality Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce 2025 report reveals about South Asia. Out of every region in the world, South Asia has the lowest percentage of thriving employees and the highest levels of daily anger and sadness.

That’s not just a number on a survey. It’s your colleague in the next cubicle who looks exhausted but doesn’t speak up. It’s that overworked worker in your friend circle who pushes through another shift despite feeling hopeless. It’s that recently entered into parenthood employee who stays late every night, not because they want to, but because saying no feels impossible.

What the Numbers Are Telling Us

Let’s break down the data:

• 20% of employees in South Asia are actively disengaged, higher than the global average of 17%. That’s one in five employees not just “quiet quitting” but actively withdrawing their energy and commitment.
• Only 15% of employees are thriving compared to a global average of 33%. This means the vast majority of South Asian workers see their present and future lives through a lens of struggle.
• Daily negative emotions are significantly higher – anger (34%), sadness (39%), and loneliness (29%). These are not abstract feelings; they are the daily lived reality of millions of workers.

What this paints is a picture of workplaces that are not just failing to engage employees, but actively eroding their mental and emotional well-being.

Why Is South Asia Struggling So Much?

Part of this stems from cultural and structural factors unique to the region. South Asia is home to deeply hierarchical organizations, where questioning authority is often discouraged. Combine that with high unemployment, job insecurity, and a culture that often glorifies overwork, and you have an environment where employees feel trapped rather than empowered.

Take for example the IT sector in India, which employs millions. While it has created global giants and success stories, inside many of these companies, employees report relentless pressure, 12+ hour days, and limited psychological safety. Promotions often depend on pleasing superiors rather than on creativity or collaboration. The result? Talented individuals burn out, disengage, or leave.

Similarly, in Nepal and Pakistan’s factories and industries, workers often operate in conditions where basic dignity such as safe spaces, predictable hours, and fair recognition are not guaranteed. It’s little wonder daily anger and sadness run so high.

The Cultural Ripple Effect

When employees spend their days angry, sad, or lonely, culture suffers. Teams become transactional rather than collaborative. Innovation takes a backseat because no one feels safe enough, or motivated enough, to propose new ideas. Leaders, instead of addressing the root causes, often double down on control, creating a cycle of disengagement and distrust.

Over time, this kind of culture doesn’t just harm employees. It hurts organizations. Companies that ignore well-being and engagement are less adaptable, less innovative, and less able to compete globally.

What Leaders Can Do Differently

The good news is this: culture is not always rigid. Even in regions where disengagement runs high, leaders have the power to shift the narrative. But it requires moving beyond surface-level perks to deep, structural changes in how organizations treat their people.

First, psychological safety must become a cultural norm. Leaders should model openness, not pseudo-openness, by genuinely considering dissenting voices and rewarding candor.

Second, well-being needs to be reframed as a business strategy, not an HR initiative. Companies like TATA Consultancy Services in India have begun integrating wellness into leadership KPIs, recognizing that mental health and engagement drive performance.

Third, focus on purpose and growth. Employees disengage not just because of workload, but because they don’t see meaning in what they do. Leaders must connect roles to impact and provide clear growth pathways, especially for younger employees eager to learn and contribute.

And finally, address the human basics – fair pay, recognition, rest, and dignity. It may sound simple, but these are the foundations of a thriving culture. Without them, no strategy can succeed.

Final Thoughts: South Asia’s Culture Crossroads

South Asia is at a turning point. The data is clear: if we continue business as usual, we will continue to see suffering workplaces and stagnant organizations. But if leaders take this as a wake-up call, there’s an opportunity to transform workplaces into spaces of trust, purpose, and possibility.

The choice is stark: will South Asia’s workplaces remain engines of struggle – or – will they evolve into engines of thriving?

The answer lies in what leaders decide to prioritize today.

You come back home from your regular mundane 9 to 5 job, rest for a while, have your dinner and then decide to redeem your well-earned sleep so that the cycle can continue operating tomorrow as well.

But the problem is, you go to your bed and then instead of releasing sleep hormones, your scumbag brain decides to paint your sleep with the picture of your crappy work environment – that un-ergonomic back paining chair, the pile of documents towered on your ‘to-do’ section of the desk, the ever-complaining subordinates, that unsupportive teammate, that irrational client, the erratic supervisor who knows nothing else than work delegation, the awful canteen lunch that your tastebuds reject, and most importantly – the morning traffic ! Pheww!

The brain – being the scumbag it is – then poses you with the universal quandary, “Is it worth dragging my a*se to work tomorrow morning? Or should I quit everything and become my own boss?” You quickly remember the quote you came across in the evening while facebooking – “Salary is the bribe they give you to forget your dreams”.

You – then – decide to check your facebook before going to sleep. But facebook’s algorithm will now bombard you other posts related to startups and entrepreneurship. You will see your friends and classmates attending business networking events and looking dapper in blazers and suits, receiving ‘khaadaa‘ and tokens on various startup events, seed-fund competition applications, and venture capitalists proudly drinking in the Jhamsikhel bar where they have invested other investors’ money. Sigh.

Your scrolling speed increases, and you further see your friends updating their bio with words like ‘co-founder’, ‘CEO’, and ‘Managing Director’. More scrolling, and you see some other friends ‘attending’ that business pitch competition, and few more friends being ‘interested’ in those events. A random ‘motivating’ video then appears where the speaker keeps on iterating “follow your passion” for about two minutes, and then the next video appears and then the next one and next one and so on.

“Enough of this thing”, you say to yourself. You then plug the charger in your phone, and then decide to go back to sleep. But your brain is still a scumbag.

Also read: How to create your own job

With more “freshly brewed content” served to your brain, it starts contemplating even more than before. Amidst all the “startup” fashion and “being my own boss” buzz, your brain reminds you of the business plan you once made years ago as a college assignment. What a solid business plan that was! A struggle for a few years, and then you could also proudly boast on facebook and instagram with your new title – an entrepreneur! Woah!

You start comparing the cons of your current job against the pros of that dreamy CEO position. You imagine going to a fancy networking event and pulling out a business card that reads – “Your name, Founder/Chief Executive Officer”. But then suddenly you also remember the good parts of your job. You have a decent social life. You at least have a regular cash flow incoming in your bank account. You also get bonuses, and do not have to worry much about loans, credit interests and tough business decisions.

Is it worth taking that risk?

—

While the social media is filled with half-witted comparisons of jobs and entrepreneurs, one can easily get swayed away with the idea of starting a business. Clickbait headlines like “Quit your job right now! This business will make you a millionaire by 2030!” misleads many people to take wrong turns in their lives. The social media shows the ‘celebrity’ side of entrepreneurs but not their revenue charts going off-the-graph. These deceptive posts, images and comparison charts may push you to take frenzied actions, which will only help you to regret later.

For the records, I’m not against entrepreneurship and startups. I am only against the pseudo-practice of shaming the job holders while the ‘show-off’ entrepreneurs are glorified. Having a job is not a shame. Doing a mundane 9 to 5 routine shouldn’t be mocked. Your job might suck, but just for once think that if no one wanted to become employees, all entrepreneurs would be worthless.

And finally, to all those people wide awake at 2 AM hosting the battle of ‘real job versus show-off startup’ inside their mind, I want to whisper silently to their ears, “Hey, psst! It’s okay to do a job.“

Customer service jobs – be it through telephone, or email, or even face-to-face – can be the most distressing yet a bolstering avenue for your career. Especially for the youths and even more specifically for business and management students, who are on the brink of starting their career, my advice for them would be to take up customer service jobs as a start.

People considering themselves as major introverts might think this as a dreadful nightmare (and even might stop reading this article – but don’t click the exit/back button just yet!). What most people fail to realize is that customer service jobs are such where they need to listen more than speak – and introverts are good at listening (or at least pretend to listen). While you might also feel like killing people for their stupidity during your customer service job, there are a lot of additional perks that come along with your salary and benefits.

Youths starting their careers are usually in the late teens, which is a phase when they feel they can do anything – they have the energy, enthusiasm, and passion for a lot of things. Also, they get easily furious and angry, with boiling hot blood flowing through the veins in their age. A customer service job helps in controlling this anger-temperament. They have to hold back their words of aggravation in many instances while dealing with customers. This will help them calm down even in similar occasions in their personal lives as well. Furthermore, it will also help the youths teach manners and respect. Usually in South Asian culture, no one is called with their first name only in the offices unlike the Western world – you either add ‘sir’ or ‘jee’ to express respect, regardless of how stupid, ridiculous, or annoying the other party is.

Also read: How to create your own jobs?

The customer service job will also help the youths understand the human nature, and prepare to act accordingly. After dealing with hundreds of customers, one can get acquainted with the variations of human behaviors and their actions in a certain state of minds. For example, if you work at a front desk and see someone charging at you with red-face or closed fists, then you better start preparing to handle a furious customer who will dump all the accusations to you as if you’ve just eloped with his/her child. Thus, it will also help the youths to understand compassion, and empathize with the other person they’re talking to.

Finally, and most importantly, people with customer service orientation are the ones who develop good public relations (PR, the official jargon) and demonstrate visible results within the organization. Imagine an accountant who just inputs numbers to Excel sheets – could their results be ever visible as compared to the customer service personnel? Heck, no – never! This is why customer service personnel are the ones who quickly climb up the corporate ladder, get quick promotions, and eventually become better managers than the rest. With all these benefits, the stupidity of customers comes for free – which can infuriate you during the job, but becomes a good dose of laughter later on. And yes, you will always have a story to share when you clasp that beer bottle and hangout with a bunch of your buddies.

Originally published on Republica, 9th August 2016, Tuesday; Also published on https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/create-your-own-job/

You probably are familiar with these amazing headlines: “9-year-old boy joins the millionaire club”, “Brothers aged 10 and 12 launch mobile app firm”, and “Microsoft’s CEO gets impressed by an 8-year-old Indian kid”. Have you ever thought how are these young people earning despite not having a university degree or any professional work experience?

In today’s digitized age, there are unexplored career openings which go beyond the regular 9 to 5 jobs. People have started taking self-initiatives and built a career out of their hobbies and passion. All you need to do is introspect, and list out your strengths, capabilities, skills, and passion. Your passion will drive your career path. You might reach the pinnacle of your career without really having to hunt for full-time employment at any company. Here’s how:

UTILIZE STRATENOLOGY

As we call it, “stratenology” is a mix of strategy and technology. It implies the strategic usage of available technologies. With the technology boom, you will have to learn and adapt to the usage of new gadgets and software. Ability to use basic computing and office packages is equivalent to just being ‘literate’ in today’s world. If you really want to outrival your peers, you will have to utilize more of the given technology and below are a few of them:

a. Google AdSense

A big banner on Google’s AdSense home page reads “Turn your Passion into Profit”. If you’re passionate about cooking, you could start with your own cooking recipe blog. If your passion is travelling, you can start your website sharing your travel journeys and enthralling experiences. Now, on your website you could place Ads from Google AdSense and start earning. Google’s AdSense works with Earnings per Click (EPC) and Cost per Click (CPC). On every click on ads appearing in your website, you will be paid. 

b. Monetize YouTube Channel

You might even want to video-blog (or simply vlog) by uploading your content on the internet through YouTube videos. In order to start earning from your videos or vlogs, you will need to enable monetization on your videos. To enable monetization, you need to make sure your videos are completely new, and that there is no copyrighted material. With video monetization, you allow YouTube to place ads on your video. These ads work on Cost per Click (CPC) and CPV (Cost per View) formats.

CREATE YOUR OWN JOB POSITION

No, we are not talking about startups, entrepreneurship or being your own boss. It is about creating a job position which never existed before. This new job position must suit your skills and strengths, and should be viable and feasible for the organization as well. Recently in a panel discussion of a career event conducted by Jobs Dynamics, a US-returnee shared her experience of how she was exhausted with job hunt in Nepal before finally creating a new position at an organization that matched her skills and passion. 

To create your own job position, you should be aware, pro-active and up-to-date about recent developments, company performances, and global practices. For instance, the non-government sectors and civil society organizations within Nepal lack human resources with excellent ‘knowledge management’ abilities. If you are willing and able to manage organizational knowledge, you could simply walk-in and propose a new job position that could benefit the organization in both short and long terms. If your pitch is successful, you might be working on something which you love and are good at.

LET THE JOB SEARCH YOU

Recruiters are massively hiring candidates from online job portals and social media, especially LinkedIn. So make sure you have a very good online presence in those portals and social media. LinkedIn connects you with various professionals. You can follow companies of your interest and get recommendations and endorsements from the community. Most newcomers think that they do not have ample work experience and don’t bother to set up their LinkedIn account. They leave out their volunteering experiences, internship works, and group project works – which actually add value to their profiles.

Personal branding is important and you should be creative if you want others to notice you. People across the globe have started branding themselves with the help of creative resumes – be it in the form of a magazine, a chocolate bar or a dedicated personal website! These steps make you stand out from the crowd, and thereby minimize job hunt frustrations.

The author is associated with Jobs Dynamics Pvt. Ltd., an organization driven towards providing the widest range of job solutions to people looking for work in Nepal. He can be reached at prayas@jobsdynamics.com.