No matter how hard we strive for the perfect work-life balance, our jobs sometimes bleed into our personal lives. Especially now, when we’re faced with 24/7 connectivity, setting boundaries becomes extremely difficult. But while answering business calls and running errands after hours may start to seem normal, we have to remember there’s more to us than just our jobs.

Sadly, not every employer sees it that way. Recently, user InfiniteMaf shared a story about a troubling encounter with their company’s management on the Anti Work subreddit. You see, HR found out that the employee enjoys doing other gigs on the weekends that are totally unrelated to their nine-to-five job.

Instead of respecting their worker’s personal time, an executive told them: “If you have any free time, it should be spent working for us because we pay you a salary.” As you can guess, that didn’t go well with the author. Scroll down below to find out how the situation unfolded, and let us know what you think about it in the comments.

Recently, an employee shared how they quit their job after management showed a complete lack of respect for their personal time

Image credits: energepic.com (not an actual photo)

Image credits: August de Richelieu (not an actual photo)

Image credits: Scott Graham (not an actual photo)

InfiniteMaf’s story amassed more than 36.9K upvotes and dozens of comments with people applauding the author’s decision. Many Redditors started rightfully shaming entitled managers and bosses who believe they have the right to treat their employees this way. The author revealed in one of the updates that they didn’t expect this story to blow up as much as it did: “Many [comments] confirm even more I made the right choice!”

To find out what an expert had to say about this whole incident, we reached out to Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach based in the UK. “The culture of the company, as well as the personality and habits of the employer, can have a huge influence on the extent to which work boundaries and therefore personal time is being respected. This is different for every company and every employer,” she told Bored Panda.

Well, if the management shows a complete lack of respect for your personal time, it’s a bright red flag that proves your work environment is unhealthy. “If taken to the extreme and the employee feels their boundaries are constantly being transgressed, then this can be considered a toxic atmosphere,” the career coach said.

“Before you even accept a job in a new company, try to get an honest feel for how the culture is. You can do this by asking the interviewer, but better still is to ask to spend some time with people working for the company. Ideally, in a similar position to the one you’re applying for. Looking online for reviews such as on Glassdoor can also be very revealing.”

Later on, the author added some more updates to the story

When employers and the management show no concern for their staff’s personal life and out-of-work commitments, it can affect their wellbeing. Christine explained that such behavior can “emotionally and physically drain the employee, and lead to dissatisfaction and even burnout.”

She added: “Every employee wants to do a good job, and most people are happy putting in a bit more work than is strictly speaking asked for. But when taken to the extreme, the consequences are bad for both the company and the employer. In the medium and long term, everyone needs a good balance between personal and work time.”

If you ever find yourself in situations where you have to sacrifice your own time because of senseless employer’s demands, Christine suggested you to take a step back and assess the situation.

“Take some quiet time out, on a weekend or holiday perhaps, and reflect on how you feel at work day by day. If you constantly feel stressed, dread Monday mornings, these are all signs that the balance is off and you need to make some changes.”

“Be honest, ask yourself if this is really the best you can do. Is the job bringing the best out of you? Is it allowing you to blossom, or is it making you into a person you don’t like or even recognize? Have this conversation with someone close to you while being completely honest,” the career coach advised.

Here’s how Redditors reacted to this whole situation

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