Bosses come in all shapes, characters, demands, expectations, and sizes. But despite that, many of them share this temptation to mistrust their responsible and hard-working team members. Some even micromanage and pressure their workers any chance they get. The result? Employees who are overworked, underpaid, and not valued enough to tolerate the unreasonable requirements set by the management.

A few days ago, Reddit user Landrig22 turned to the ‘Malicious Compliance’ community to share a story that happened to their friend Craig, who worked for an IT company about a decade ago. In it, the user explains Craig was a productive employee who always tried to stay on top of things. And while any company would feel lucky to have him, his employer was far from happy about this.

Turns out, the VP was “outraged” when she noticed that Craig was sitting in his office already ahead of his tasks, “being paid for doing nothing.” So the boss made him go on vacation, ignoring the warnings about big jobs due the next two weeks. Hint: he regretted this decision almost instantly. Scroll down for the full story and be sure to share your thoughts about the situation in the comments.

In this IT company, being ahead of your tasks means you’re “being paid for doing nothing”

Image credits: Danial Igdery (not the actual photo)

So after his boss made him go on holiday for having a slow week at work, this employee complied — maliciously

The worker turned his phone off during his vacation, making the employer go into panic mode when things started failing

Image credits:  Florian Olivo (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Landrig22

As many employees know from practice, micromanagement is a one-way ticket to sparking tension within the team. In fact, a poll by GoodHire found that American workers are most annoyed by managers who are overbearing, micromanage and expect them to work outside of working hours. What’s more, an overwhelming majority (82%) of all respondents said they would consider quitting because of a bad manager.

When the corporate world is full of patronizing, mistrusting, and toxic managers who regularly go on power trips that benefit no one, scenarios like this one become much more common than we’d like.

Earlier, Bored Panda spoke about the lack of trust and respect employees have for their workers with Sunny Patel, a UK-based career-change coach aiming to help professionals find careers that excite them. According to him, companies who fail to appreciate their loyal employees for their efforts are slowly driving them away.

“This is one of the reasons why so many successful careers are now built on making moves to new organizations every few years, as opposed to the older model of climbing the ranks,” Patel explained.

“After several years in a role and with the development and new skills you’ve acquired, your current employer might still see you as the same person, but a new organization will look at who you are right now.”

To ensure employees feel appreciated for their hard work, managers need to show that they care and find what motivates a person intrinsically. “Things such as supporting them to get to the next level in their career, helping them feel that they’re on a career path and not just in a job, as well as getting their buy-in and input on projects before simply asking them to do the work.”

Patel also pointed out that while everyone is motivated by different incentives, we all deserve to feel valued. “This is not indulgent, it is simply human nature. Find what motivates you and fires you up, then work with your boss to see how it might be achievable where you are.”

“If not, start planning your next role and use these things to help you find the right one. I work with people who are seeking their next career move, and step one is always to focus on what doesn’t serve them in their current role and what, specifically, would need to be different in their next one,” the career coach concluded.

Readers jumped to the comment section to criticize the management and share their personal experiences

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