Why U.S. Managers Allow Early Exit but NRIs Don’t

If a person quits a job here in the United States, likely they’ll be gone in two weeks — even sooner. In India? Men and women remain stuck serving their 90-day notice like they’re serving some kind of imprisonment.

Now here’s where it gets even more confusing. Large companies like Accenture, Infosys, TCS — they have huge teams in India and managers sitting in the U.S. and Europe. And yet somehow Indian employees are still expected to sit for three long months after quitting.

If there are so many individuals on the bench, why can’t firms simply replace someone quickly and release them? The reality is, many onshore managers (particularly American ones) do grant early release — they know that holding up notice periods doesn’t benefit anyone.

But somehow, the actual issue appears in an unexpected location. It’s usually Indians employed in the U.S. on H1B visas who are tougher, stricter, and less compassionate with their own Indian groups.

There is this weird form of toxicity that appears here. Individuals who once struggled themselves now gatekeep more aggressively than anybody else — dealing with Indian counterparts almost like second-class citizens.

This isn’t a handful of bad instances — it’s something that appears frequently in service businesses. And it leaves people asking: when even ABCDs (American Born Confused Desis) are more empathetic at times, what went wrong?

It’s time to redefine what leadership actually is. A title in America or a visa status does not grant anyone the authority to treat others poorly.

At the end of the day, empathy should arrive more quickly than a green card.