I work for the Dutch branch of a large US tech company. We recently got a new middle-manager based in New York. He seemed like a nice guy at first, but it turns out he is totally obsessed with "hustle culture".
Last week, we had a 1-on-1 meeting where he told me he was "concerned" about my dedication to the team. He listed his grievances quite clearly. He didn't like that my Slack status goes offline at 5:01 PM every single day. He was annoyed that I didn't reply to an email he sent on Saturday morning until Monday at 9:00 AM, and he was especially frustrated that I refused to join a "team bonding" Zoom call that was scheduled for 7 PM my time, which is 1 PM his time.
He gave me the usual speech about how "in this company, we go the extra mile" and that if I want to grow, I need to be more available.
I had to give him a bit of a reality check. I looked him in the eye over Zoom and told him that in the Netherlands, if you can't finish your work by 5 PM, it doesn't mean you are dedicated. It means you are inefficient or understaffed. I told him I am neither.
I also reminded him that contacting me outside of working hours for non-emergencies is actually frowned upon here, and that my contract is for 40 hours, not "40 hours plus nights and weekends".
He tried to threaten me with a Performance Improvement Plan. I immediately forwarded the email to our local Dutch HR representative. She literally laughed when she read it and told me to ignore him. She said she would have a "chat" with him about local labor laws.
Since then, he hasn't sent a single email after 5 PM. I honestly feel bad fro you guys in the US. The fact that you have to apologize for having a life outside of work is insane to us.