I'm a mid level, salaried employee in a corporate job. Most of us are remote and everything seemed fine when I started, but recently leadership adopted the slogan that “nobody sleeps here,” and I'd estimate we now work 12 hours in a typical day with heavier days looking more like 14-18. My department started taking shorter and shorter lunch breaks until those disappeared completely, and now it's starting to be expected that we work weekends too. People even work when they're sick because we don't get sick days or much PTO, and our workload has increased due to so many people quitting or get laid off.
My salary is pretty good, but it's not enough to buy back the time that I'm spending at work. I'm in my 20s and my mental health is nearly at rock bottom because I feel like I'm wasting my life away, not to mention my physical health going down the drain because I don't have the time or energy to cook real meals or exercise. My parents are Boomers and think it's hilarious how much this has taken a toll on me, I feel like they've been brainwashed into believing that it's normal for people to live this way. Is this really how most people live, or is this company just more exploitative than other ones?