In a troubling sign of how early-career professionals are increasingly vulnerable to opaque corporate processes, a viral Reddit post has exposed the story of a recent graduate who was given less than a day to resign—or be terminated—without ever being assigned a project.

The post, shared on the r/india subreddit, recounts how the woman, who graduated in 2024 and joined her company through on-campus recruitment in November 2024, was asked to resign on the morning of June 13, 2025. She had recently completed a six-month training period and had been officially converted to full-time employment just a month prior.

Despite her formal onboarding, the employee had not yet been allocated to a project and had been attending internal upskilling sessions while on the “bench”—a common transitional period in Indian IT and consulting firms. On the morning in question, however, she received an unexpected call from HR demanding her resignation by 2:00 PM, failing which the company would initiate the resignation automatically by 3:00 PM.

“The reason they gave was that she has been on the bench for 4 months and lacks the required skills,” the friend wrote. “But the fact is, they never allocated any project to her in the first place, and she was officially in training until recently.”

The post quickly gained traction online, sparking outrage over what many viewed as unfair treatment, poor HR communication, and a lack of basic procedural ethics.

A Familiar Pattern for Freshers?

The story has struck a chord with many young professionals who say they’ve experienced similar practices. As companies tighten resource allocation amid global economic uncertainty, fresher attrition has emerged as a quiet but widespread problem.

“This is not just unfair—it’s a loophole companies use to avoid formal layoffs,” commented one user. “Forcing someone to resign strips them of any severance or legal ground to challenge it.”

Others warned against complying with such demands and encouraged the employee to seek legal advice or escalate the matter internally.

“If your friend doesn’t want to resign, she has every right to let them initiate the termination officially. That puts the onus on them,” one commenter wrote. “A forced resignation leaves her without any protection or compensation.”

While being on the bench post-training is not uncommon, what stands out in this case is the speed and severity of the company’s response. Despite never having missed a session or shown disengagement, the employee was labelled “under-skilled” and given a 4-hour resignation window, raising questions about whether this is part of a broader effort to streamline headcount without transparency.

“HR’s job is to build bridges between employee potential and business need,” said a Bengaluru-based HR consultant. “But this kind of pressure tactic undermines trust and demoralises freshers who are just starting out.”

The incident reflects a wider HR culture problem in India’s tech and services sector: treating freshers as disposable when bench pressure rises. Without project experience, many young employees feel untested, unsupported, and discarded before they ever get a fair shot.

“She did everything right—completed training, stayed engaged, followed protocol—and still got penalised for things out of her control,” wrote the friend. “It’s disheartening.”

As the conversation around this post continues to gain traction online, it’s sparking renewed calls for greater accountability in hiring and onboarding practices, especially for freshers. With graduate unemployment already a growing concern, HR departments will need to rethink how they manage new talent—or risk losing it entirely.