'Marry a colleague': Bengaluru man's ultimate work-life balance hack has netizens asking 'Free rent, referral bonuses & more?'

A Bengaluru man’s unique suggestion for Indian employees to “marry their colleagues” has ignited a spirited debate on LinkedIn.  A stand-up comedian, Harshit Mahawar, made the recommendation in a post titled “Jobs in India are broken,” citing several “benefits” of coupling up with a coworker to streamline work-life balance.

Mahawar jokingly suggests marrying a colleague as a solution and outlines the following supposed benefits:

• Financial savings: Sharing transportation costs with a spouse who is also a colleague.
• Improved work-from-home experience: Blurring the lines between home and office because your spouse/colleague is with you.
• Entertainment during boring meetings: Adding a bit of fun/flirting to otherwise dull MS Teams meetings.
• Reduced risk of workplace infidelity: Logically, if you're married to a colleague, the chances of an affair at work are lower.
• Nepotism perks: As a tongue-in-cheek benefit, he suggests you could refer your children twice for the same job in the company (presumably because both parents are employees).

Below is Mahawar’s LinkedIn post in full:

“Jobs in India are broken

Hustle in job
→ no time to talk to family

Quit your job
→ family stops talking to you

Lose-Lose situation

My solution: Marry a colleague

It has several benefits:
→ Cab expenses reduced by half
→ Work from home = Work from office
→ Flirt on MS Teams during boring calls
→ No scope for extra-martial affair at work
→ Can refer children twice in the company for the same role

Have you married any of your colleagues yet?

Achieve work-life balance by erasing the boundary today!”

As soon as the post went live, LinkedIn users chimed in with their own perspectives. One warned about the unpredictability of “office romance,” while another raised concerns about performance reviews spilling over into marital disputes, “Brilliant strategy! But what if your appraisal discussions turn into dinner table arguments? Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) at work AND at home—double trouble! Guess I’ll stick to swiping on LinkedIn instead of Tinder.”

Some commenters pushed Mahawar’s concept even further, suggesting that if the office became your home, you could save on rent, parking, and utility bills. Another user quipped, “Marry somebody and hire them in your team. Get referral bonus too.”

Though Mahawar’s tongue-in-cheek advice might not fit everyone’s definition of solving work-life balance, it clearly highlights the pressure many professionals face in India. The post comes amid an ongoing discussion on work-life balance and recent remarks about working more hours in a week.