Indian man turns down Rs 2 crore offer to pick lower-paying US job instead, shares why

An Indian professional declined a Rs 2 crore job offer from India and took up a lower-paying job in the US. The exchange triggered debate over whether work-life balance outweighs salary in cross-border career choices.Indian man turns down Rs 2 crore offer to pick lower-paying US job instead, shares why (Photo: Representational Image from Pexels)An Indian professional living in the US turned down a Rs 2 crore-a-year job offer from India, saying predictable personal time mattered more than a bigger pay cheque.The claim was shared by C J Teja Sai, an AI lead based in Dubai, in a LinkedIn post recounting a conversation he had with a friend currently working in the United States.According to Sai, his friend had rejected an annual offer worth Rs 2 crore in India in favour of a $160,000 (around Rs 1.4 crore) role in the US, sparking a discussion about whether salary alone should determine career decisions.Sai wrote that his immediate reaction was to point out the difference in living costs between the two countries. However, his friend responded that the deciding factor was not money but work-life balance. His friend said that in the US, he is able to log off at 5 pm every day, whereas he believed he would be expected to remain available around the clock if he accepted the role in India.Sai added that his friend was even willing to deal with the uncertainty surrounding US work visas because, for him, having clear boundaries between work and personal life was more valuable. The conversation did not end there. Sai said his friend also shared an incident involving his uncle, who works in the US. The uncle had once asked an engineering manager in India why he had suddenly resigned from his role despite working closely with US teams.According to Sai, the manager explained that one particular meeting had become the final straw. A sync call with the US team had been scheduled for 3 am in India and was introduced as a brief 15-minute discussion.Instead, the meeting stretched until 6 am. Sai wrote that it was not an isolated incident but part of a broader expectation of always being available outside regular working hours, which ultimately led the manager to quit.Reflecting on the conversation, Sai argued that people often compare international job offers only in terms of salary and taxes, while overlooking factors such as personal time, work boundaries and the ability to disconnect after office hours.He concluded by saying that compensation should not be measured only by the amount credited to a bank account, but also by the quality of life a job allows outside work. He also invited others to share whether they had experienced similar situations or completely different ones.Take a look at the post here:The post prompted a discussion among LinkedIn users about workplace culture in India and abroad. While several agreed that some Indian managers struggle to push back against unrealistic client demands, resulting in weekend work and long hours for their teams, others disagreed with the comparison.Some users said they had worked with US clients without ever being asked to work weekends or excessive overtime, arguing that such experiences depended more on an organisation's culture than the country itself.Others added that they had also experienced extended workdays in the US, suggesting that work-life balance ultimately varies from company to company rather than geography alone.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Aug 1, 2026 10:19 IST