A former Amazon USA employee has sparked debate on Reddit by sharing a candid account of toxic workplace culture and discriminatory hiring practices allegedly driven by some Indian managers.
According to the user, many Indian managers prefer hiring only fellow Indians, exploiting their visa dependence to push them into working around the clock. By contrast, Americans, who are less likely to tolerate exploitation and more willing to sue if boundaries are crossed, are often overlooked. The poster added that this trend isn’t confined to Amazon but is visible in other giants like Walmart and Intel as well.
“Walmart is filled with Telugu managers and employees — the only real hiring criteria seems to be ‘are you Telugu?’ and you’ll get the job. Same with Gujaratis at Intel, where they prefer only hiring Gujaratis. My classmates used to play cricket with Intel employees just to secure internships,” the Redditor wrote.
The user admitted that these practices inevitably leave Americans feeling alienated.
“Obviously Americans will be pissed if they see this kind of favouritism. They are not stupid,” he said.
Though the poster clarified that moving back to India was ultimately a personal choice influenced by distance and visa complications, he emphasized that his experience, while not universal, revealed a troubling pattern.
The post quickly attracted responses from others, many of whom shared similar anecdotes. One user, MrCrackSparrow, complained that those who gamed the system for green cards and citizenship “will never be punished — it’s always the hard workers who suffer.”
Another user, plasmalightwave, recounted a disturbing incident where a relative, a tech manager, admitted to hiring an Indian candidate solely because they belonged to the same caste.
“I wanted to throw up,” she wrote.
Even members of the Telugu community admitted frustration, with one user noting that many of their own friends were “fed up with this culture.”
An American tech worker, BB_147, struck a balanced tone: “I love my Indian coworkers. But I really notice how corrupted and rigged the hiring and promotion process has become on many teams depending on management. It hurts everyone and it’s one of the most damaging things to company culture.”