Coworkers Question Why Guy Keeps Leaving Early, He Maliciously Complies With ‘Expectations’
While every workplace is more than entitled to set whatever boundaries, rules and codes of conduct they want, it all has to be properly documented and the employee has to actually agree to those terms.
However, when a company representative decides that something isn’t any longer a thing and starts demanding things that in turn make zero logical sense, malicious compliance might be in order to fix that… thing.
While it’s great to have arrangements and agreements with bosses regarding work style and schedule, it sucks when they aren’t honored
Image credits: seventyfourimages (not the actual photo)
And when they aren’t honored, folks who were told to track hours “in lieu” might just maliciously comply and resort to overtime
Image source: Anete Lusina (not the actual photo)
Image source: can3gxw
There were no numbers mentioned, but it was clear that the employee’s switch to formalizing on-call duty as overtime was a pain for the company
A Redditor recently shared a story of malicious compliance about the time they got reprimanded about leaving work early. For context, there was a spoken agreement about it—things simply had to be flexible given that IT problems can arise at any moment and some of them need to have been fixed yesterday.
In light of this, the request was to prompt for in lieu hour tracking rather than formalizing overtime. And this is what ultimately allowed OP to rightfully leave work early.
Well, despite all of this, some folks were unhappy. For whatever reason. This promptly prompted management to get involved and to essentially tell him he needs to be at work for the full 9 to 5 (or, 8 to 4 in OP’s case) shtick. OK, cue malicious compliance!
Essentially, every on-call moment that OP had immediately became overtime, formalized and submitted. And if it just so happened that there was a call outside of work hours that lasted less than a minute, as per laws and regulations, it was formalized as a full hour.
So, when the financial balance eventually reached the boss-people, all that OP could do is tell them that this is exactly what they asked for. OP didn’t work there for long. Jumped ship when a much better opportunity arose. That too, likely, was a hit for the company.
Folks online were engaged with the story in many ways, leaving 9.3K upvotes along the way
The r/MaliciousCompliance community approved of this. 9,300 upvotes (96% positive) later, folks were sharing stories of similar events happening to them. The overall consensus among all these storytellers was that doing things just because something looks good or bad is just plain dumb. But this particular breed of management never learns.
Others noted their surprise at how OP didn’t push for an on-call policy to be implemented. And it seems that it’s one of the most egregious things that folks working in IT have to put up with—being available all the time does lead to the sad realization that you’re truly never alone. In a bad way.
The discussion branched out into the idea that the ability of one coworker to understand the job of another coworker depends on the boss’ aptitude to explain it to them. You know, if Jenny thinks that Jake should stop being late all the time, while that has zero impact on his performance and it actually allows him to resolve problems when nobody else can—outside work hours—the perspective gives ground for bosses to keep the peace.
It goes without saying that the impact management has on employees is immense
We do keep getting back to the topic of good and bad management, but it’s one that can’t be exhausted nor overstated in today’s corporate world.
The impact that bosses have on their employees is significant. The biggest thing that suffers under a bad boss is productivity. Studies have shown that if an employee moves from a boss who’s considered an average to someone who’s in the 90th percentile, that could potentially lead to a +50% boost in productivity.
A huge part of this is thanks to some of the more universal traits of a boss, i.e. them being able to coach and teach employees, offer insights into the strategy and approach to the firm, and consider the employee’s career goals in light of this strategy.
Ultimately, the truth is that workers often quit bad bosses and bad bosses often leave companies. In those terms, it is unsustainable to have someone who’s horrible in the managerial position because nothing is stable when stability is a key part of a healthy company.
So, considering all of this, we’d love to hear what you folks think about anything you’ve read here today in the comment section below!
The IT worker was active in the comment section, answering questions and providing context to the story
In general, folks were all in on this one, praising the employee for sticking to his guns and suggesting other shenanigans
A number of people related by sharing their own stories
I used to work as a security supervisor, I had to drive round sites checking on our guards, I worked from 2100-0700 ish. Our office staff worked from 0830-1700. When they called meetings they would always be from 1000-1100, right when I was getting ready to sleep. Myself and another supervisor used to take turns doing the fortnightly meetings, we could suffer one a month. Some busybody in the office decided we both had to be there and complained that we got the o/t for the hours between 0700 and 1100, that was paid because we had to stay in the office and stay awake, we’d use the time to do paperwork. Our manager was a good sort. He maliciously complied for us. Week one, meeting at 1000, o/t paid for us both. Week three, meeting at 2200, o/t paid for office staff who had to stay in the office for the extra time. After two months, LOTS of complaints about the very late meetings, no complaints from us night workers! Went back to the original way, office staff wound their necks in!
We had a similar issue. Whiners would complain "Joe left early AGAIN", "Mary was an hour late this morning. Must be nice!'. Managers finally told everyone to shut up and mind their own business. "You don't know what extra time they've put in after hours."
Managers should have done that from the beginning. Gotta nip these things in the bud or they get out of control and seriously effect moral for no good reason.
Load More Replies... I work in a small office (less than 10, including the bosses), and I have a coworker like that. I come in - and start working - early everyday. She starts 30 minutes past my official start time. I take an extra 10 minutes at lunch for an appointment, next thing I know I'm being yelled at in the hallway like it's recess in grade school! Like, Susan, I don't report to you, we don't do the same job, and I put in more hours than you do. Just STFU, do your job, let me do mine. I hate office drama.
I used to work as a security supervisor, I had to drive round sites checking on our guards, I worked from 2100-0700 ish. Our office staff worked from 0830-1700. When they called meetings they would always be from 1000-1100, right when I was getting ready to sleep. Myself and another supervisor used to take turns doing the fortnightly meetings, we could suffer one a month. Some busybody in the office decided we both had to be there and complained that we got the o/t for the hours between 0700 and 1100, that was paid because we had to stay in the office and stay awake, we’d use the time to do paperwork. Our manager was a good sort. He maliciously complied for us. Week one, meeting at 1000, o/t paid for us both. Week three, meeting at 2200, o/t paid for office staff who had to stay in the office for the extra time. After two months, LOTS of complaints about the very late meetings, no complaints from us night workers! Went back to the original way, office staff wound their necks in!
We had a similar issue. Whiners would complain "Joe left early AGAIN", "Mary was an hour late this morning. Must be nice!'. Managers finally told everyone to shut up and mind their own business. "You don't know what extra time they've put in after hours."
Managers should have done that from the beginning. Gotta nip these things in the bud or they get out of control and seriously effect moral for no good reason.
Load More Replies... I work in a small office (less than 10, including the bosses), and I have a coworker like that. I come in - and start working - early everyday. She starts 30 minutes past my official start time. I take an extra 10 minutes at lunch for an appointment, next thing I know I'm being yelled at in the hallway like it's recess in grade school! Like, Susan, I don't report to you, we don't do the same job, and I put in more hours than you do. Just STFU, do your job, let me do mine. I hate office drama.
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