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Workplaces can have many different rules and policies. Some of them make sense, and others don't. For many young employees, dress codes at work are off the table, as a 2019 study revealed that 33% of workers would quit their jobs if they had to wear formal attire.
Other company policies can be dangerous and detrimental to workers' health. Like the pressure Amazon delivery drivers faced from service partners, who denied them bathroom breaks. The company faced a class action lawsuit in Colorado last year because the workers said they suffered "degrading experiences."
The least the people who work in such companies can do is tell their stories online. So, when someone asked, "What's the most surprising company policy you've encountered that the public doesn't know about?", the thread quickly went viral. It had almost everything: from stories that might make you chuckle to companies seriously endangering their employees.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I work for a small family run bakery. They own 2 shops. If you have cancer, they keep you on the payroll. You get full pay for 2 years, then half pay for another 2 years.
I've heard a lot of people s**t on family owned workplaces. Yes, some of them deserve it, but not all of them. I've honestly never heard of any place else that has done anything like that for their people.
Trophy Husband 5 months ago
The Padres (major league baseball team) has a player on payroll for a long time now. He only makes a dollar a year, but he gets free medical care compliments of the team. He came down with something debilitating in his first season, and they wanted to make sure he wouldn't fall victim to America's medical crisis. I forget the details, but that's awesome.
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#2
Theres a company in the UK which will dry clean your suit if you are unemployed and have a job interview. And despite their business being key cutting, they still actively recruit former prisoners, and have developed training programmes for convicts.
Their boss has become the new prisons minister following the recent election. He genuinely believes in reform.
Thanks Timpsons .
Tabitha 4 months ago
TBH, if more ex-cons could find decent-paying work after they’re released, the rate of recidivism would plummet. Problem is, no one wants to take the chance that they’re really reformed, so they can’t find work at all, even if they got a diploma plus training certification in a good-paying field while incarcerated. If they do get a job, by some fluke, it’s usually extremely low-paying. All of which ends up driving them back into their former careers, which tend to pay better, even though they’re extremely hazardous.
#3
I work at a smallish company. We have ~50 branches. Each branch has an associate of the year winner. That winner gets airfare for two anywhere in continental US, hotel paid for, a week PTO, and spending cash for the trip.
Best company I've ever worked for.
#4
I work for a utility company and we have "storm duty".
The basic idea is that whenever there's a big storm and enough people lose power, everyone in the company drops what they're doing and has a role to play to keep the public safe and get people restored faster.
Some examples:
- Office workers may get sent out to put caution tape up around down wires or to help with triage efforts
- Call center workers may switch from taking customer calls to do dispatching for all the extra people who get sent out into the field (both employees and repair crews from other utilities who get called in to assist)
- Extra IT workers may get called on to monitor systems related to outage reporting or dispatching crews 24/7 while they're under load.
#5
If a Google employee dies, their surviving spouse or partner receives 50% of their base salary for 10 years, and any child receives an additional $1k/month. This is in addition to a life insurance base policy of 3x one's annual salary, and the immediate vesting of all unvested stock units.
#6
At a hotel I worked at, somebody f****d up the employee handbook: during fires we were to huddle indoors away from windows and during tornadoes we were to wait outside in the parking lot.
#7
I used to work for an internationally known bank (but I was low in terms of pay and rank). If a customer got charged for exceeding their overdraft limit we could not refund it. UNLESS... they had money.
If the customer had savings or a large mortgage then then the charge was refunded. But if they were poor... no refund.
I later got promoted where I was authorised to refund up to $250 without question. So if a poor person was charged $30 three times in a month and I felt it was unfair, I'd refund the $90 and then put words in their mouth like "I imagine you've spent a lot of time phoning us over this and your phone bill might be about $50? So I'll credit an extra $50 to your account for that. And you know what, you mentioned you have your daughter's wedding coming up? I would love it if you could buy people a round of drinks but as long as you say this is because Carblays Bank made it happen? And then I can justify crediting your account with another $110.".
#8
I never worked there, but Discount Tire has a policy of never letting a customer drive off the lot with potentially dangerous tires (bald, poor condition, etc.). There are many stories of people who can't afford tires going in there and just begging for what they can get. They'll replace them for free.
Edit: this post got a lot of traction. I'm not editing the original post because that was my original comment, but using the word "begging" was inappropriate. Please replace it with the word "asking" as you read it.
#9
I recently broke my phone like a moron and had to go get a replacement at t- mobile. Upon talking to the guy, I was told that my drivers license had expired, and therefore I couldn't access my account. No amount of argument from me could change this, never mind having the credit card that has paid the bill for the last 10 years, etc.
Long story short luckily I had my gf as an authorized user on the account and we were able to get a new phone later that day, but afterwards I asked the manager, "what if I didn't have anyone, or say I just moved here and knew no one", to which he replied that I could call t mobile customer service, give them my user pin or whatever, and add someone as an authorized user. I then asked if I could add that guy over there, and he said yes, anyone with a valid ID. Because somehow that's more secure than using a secondary form of ID. Asinine.
Tobias Reaper 5 months ago (edited)
i dont get the reason that they cant accept your id if its expired i mean im still me its not like when it expires i turn into 9ft tall blue alien call Frank
#10
I worked for a very large corporation. We were not allowed to ride in hot air balloons. I have no idea why, but it was in the employee handbook.
Manic Mama 5 months ago
The day my employer tells me what I can/can't do in my own time, is the day i tell them to f*** off, and find another job.
#11
American Airlines began offering $400 per ticket to take the next flight out, then $500, then $600. I saw the next string of flights could hit a connection and land my family of four only 90 minutes later. Offered $800 each, and we scored $3200 that covered the hotel, meals, and entertainment for the whole vacation.
#12
During COVID times, if we tested positive for Covid we weren't allowed to send proof, and we weren't allowed to discuss it over the phone. You had to go in, show them the test then you were sent home.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 months ago
"Why do our staff keep contracting the virus? It baffles me!"
#13
I worked in IT for an insurance company. Whenever anyone filed a claim on their automobile policy, before the company did anything, they sent a letter that said they had investigated the claim and determined it was without merit. However if the claimant wished to have the decision reviewed, they could, but should be aware of the specific penalties for insurance fraud in their state.
Most people called screaming about how the accident was not their fault. Those claims were handled promptly and professionally. But they assumed some percentage of the claimants were too intimidated to complain.
#14
I work in healthcare. During COVID, we were so shortstaffed that employees who tested positive but were asymptomatic were denied PTO/sick leave. They just made you wear a mask. And if you wanted to be off because you were sick with something that wasn't COVID, you had to call the agency nurse, describe your symptoms, and she would decide if you got to stay home or not. Even if you felt like death, if you were not deemed contageous, you were fully expected to come in. Because of that policy in several healthcare agencies, I think a lot of patients would be surprised and possibly disturbed to know that they were being taken care of by staff actively ill and even COVID positive.
Jack Burton 5 months ago
Same in France at the time, we were so much nurses tested positive they asked to come working if we were ok.
#15
Many airlines intentionally overbook flights, betting that some passengers won't show up. When too many people do, they offer incentives for volunteers to give up their seats. It's a calculated gamble, prioritizing profits over customer convenience and satisfaction.
Niels Veldhoven 5 months ago
It is even location dependent.. some crowds are more prone to not show up.. for instance.. Japan has one of the lowest overbooking rate if any since Japanese people will be there..
#16
At PNC Bank, if you transfer money from one of your accounts with them, for example from money market into checking, they put a hold on the money for several days so if you are writing a check w using the transferred money you can incur an "insufficent funds fee". They tried that c**p on me but when I threatened to pull everything they waived the insufficient funds fee.
#17
My favorite one was that if a customer sexually harassed us we should deal with it because the customer is always right and it keeps them coming back.
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 5 months ago
"IN MATTER OF TASTE!!". The saying goes "The customer is always right in matter of taste". I am pretty confident that does not cover taste for harassing employees...
#18
At AutoZone, answering the phone was priority over the customer standing in front of you. The idea was the customer standing in line is already a guaranteed sale while a phone call is potential for more.
Seanette Blaylock 5 months ago
Really? I'd be very inclined to down the goods in my hands and head for a nearby competitor that actually cared about making a sale to the person who is actually there.
#19
I worked for a company where all men had to wear suits Monday through Thursday, shirts could only be white or light blue, ties couldn’t have any graphics on them aside from lines or dots One guy wore a tie with teeny golf clubs on it and the owner sent him home to get a different tie. He lived an hour away.
#20
At a retail chain I worked for, they had a policy where employees had to clock out for bathroom breaks. This wasn't common knowledge outside the company, and it felt really unfair and demeaning. It made a lot of us upset and frustrated, as we had to carefully plan when we could use the restroom without losing pay.
#21
In the US, flood zone maps are modified by Congress and lobbying. It’s not a pure science & engineering map.
#22
High end European car company offers leases to all employees. Said leased cars come with included fleet insurance. Company policy is that you can let literally any licensed driver, even some rando walking down the street, use your lease car for up to 7 days, fully covered by insurance, to promote the experience.
No down payment, discounted lease payment, no insurance or registration costs, you get a brand new car with ~8 miles on it every year (or less depending how many miles you put on it), and you can let almost anyone drive it.
Boris Long-Johnson 5 months ago
My old work used to have a clause that any licensed driver could drive your company car as long as it was “for your benefit”. If one of my mates needed to borrow a car I could ask them to pick me up something specific from where they were going and that was them insured. They also covered ANY household member with a driving license - 17 year old kids driving range rovers etc no issues.
#23
There is a wedding venue company in San Diego that makes their clients and all vendors sign basically an NDA, disallowing them from speaking ill of the company, venues, or their experiences.
I will never understand how that isn't a red flag for people.
arthbach 5 months ago
This is not a problem. Simply get a person who has not signed an NDA to give the reviews. eg. "My niece was recently married at the San Diego Winery/Petting Zoo. The whole thing was a shambles from start to finish. The Winery/Petting Zoo promised the earth, and gave us sh*t instead." The aunt/uncle was not the client, nor a vendor, so they can speak their mind, provided it is truthful.
#24
When I was a F&B department head for a large golf resort, I was tasked with "bringing new blood" into the department. Problem was that I could not increase my head count and if someone left I could not place a request in until after their last day. The process of hiring someone new took about 10 weeks. In which time I would be short handed.
I would get s**t from my boss that certain people were still there, then get s**t for paying overtime. When I would bring this up to my HR recruiter she would just give me a knowing look. Basically middle management hell.
Guess Undheit 4 months ago
Responsibility is for other people, not for those who create the problem.
#25
If you are an American Express Platinum member and you book a bargain vacation package, your Platinum benefits do not apply. It's there in the fine print on the website... somewhere.
#26
I worked for an insurance company. Insurance companies are the **worst**.
People would call and ask why their rates were raised. The closest thing I got to a real answer was, "Because they'll pay more, and if not, they'll threaten to cancel. If they do that, then we'll send them to retention, who will then lower their rate."
Rates were being raised simply because they could.
Also, when signing up for an auto policy, your mileage directly correlates to your risk rating and will either lower or raise your rate. The company I worked for would allow your mileage to be what you said for the first 6 months. At renewal, your mileage per month always jumped for 12k. Or higher if your initial mileage estimate was already over 12k. It'd be about a $50 increased a month, depending on your state.
F*****g criminals.
Garth 4 months ago
A friend of mine worked at the corporate headquarters of the "Good Neighbor" company in central Illinois. She was sitting in her car in the corporate parking lot getting ready to leave work when another employee backed into her hard causing some rear end damage. There were witnesses.She filed a claim which was denied. Why ? The other employee's supervisor was over her supervisor. The other employee claimed she had been backed into by my friend. The witnesses were told internally to stay out of it. My friend was passively harassed and told it was her fault. She had to get a lawyer and threaten to sue and suddenly they paid. However, for years she was passed over for training and promotion. My friend always warned everyone to never get a job at The Farm.
#27
Christmas Day comes out of London Tube staff’s annual leave allowance despite the fact that the entire tube system is closed on Christmas Day.
Foxglove🇮🇪 4 months ago
Lots of places do this, including government departments, county councils and so on. People always have to keep some leave to cover the Christmas closure.
#28
Old workplace decided to have a weekly compulsory company meeting that started (and finished) outside business hours.
#29
If a student literally shoots another student but isn't immediately charged and arrested they can still attend class (and in fact we're supposed to let them) until such a time they are arrested and charged. So students can basically be made to attend with their attempted murderer, not just with their rapist like we always knew about.
Michael Largey 4 months ago (edited)
The OP leaves out a lot by not explaining why the killer wasn't charged. Without that key information, all we have left is the concept of due process - no one should be punished for an offense they haven't been convicted of, or even charged with. Otherwise you have the trial from Alice in Wonderland: ‘Sentence first—verdict afterwards’. Solution. If the police had not acted in a timely manner, the school should have invoked its own internal disciplinary process and suspended or expelled the student. No need to wait for the police.
#30
Unlimited Paid Time Off policies are scams.
When employees have vacation balances in their accounts, companies have to carry the value of that time as a liability on their balance sheets. Some genius figured out that by offering "unlimited" time off, employees don't take any more time off than they would under the limited time off system - some studies suggest employees actually take less vacation with Unlimited PTO - but then the company carries zero liability on their balance sheet.
Edit - The replies below like "no, I love my Unlimited PTO!!" show that people truly don't understand the impact of these policies. Or understand what it even means.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 months ago
Guessing this is the USA?? I have 32 annual leave days a year, not including bank holidays, and I have to take them, not that I am complaining.
#31
One of the most surprising company policies I’ve encountered was at a retail store I worked at. They had a strict "no asking for time off during holidays" rule, which makes sense. But what people don’t know is that we actually had a secret list of employees who were allowed to take time off during these peak times, based on favoritism. It was kept very hush-hush to avoid any backlash.
#32
Comcast (now xfinity) likes to f**k you over, and then when you complain enough, they verbally promise credit whatnot only to f**k you over even more.
Pandaodboredem22 4 months ago
I learned to always visit the Comcast customer service store, they resolve issues quickly and usually discount your account
#33
When I worked at a major cable internet provider, it wasn't that we weren't giving you a credit because we didn't want to, we weren't giving you a credit because it went against our scorecard and we'd get in trouble. Call at the beginning of the month and you'll get more love.
#34
I worked for a state government, and they had a policy stating you could be required to sleep at the building (at times of bad weather) due to staffing requirements, and they weren't obligated to give you breaks or lunch breaks. We had people regularly forced to stay for 20 hours.
Tobias Reaper 5 months ago
for country that claim to be free the US sure does c**p all over its work force
#35
The president of our division thought khaki pants were ugly so she banned them.
What do you think ?
Savahax 5 months ago (edited)
This is just the tip of the iceberg. When I was still in the Netherlands, one of my first programming jobs was at Fletcher Hotels and I literally had to write code to scam people. They made deals with other stores like Kruitvat to sell rooms that would otherwise stay empty for sure, at a high discount. No one was allowed to use these passes on weekends but they didn't tell them. So I had to hard code in that there was no availability if they used that coupon, even though there was, but the even more scammy bit was that I had to show the vacant rooms if they looked for vacancies without the coupon first. So they check vacancy, see that their hotel is free on the weekend, they go and buy the tickets and then log in with the code and it would then show no vacancies. I declined and quit after that
Salty_Sasquatch 4 months ago
I "won" a free weekend at a hotel on the beach. I was told to call ahead to make reservations. I called many times for a couple months. No matter what the date I requested they were full. Even autumn days.
Load More Replies...
AndThenICommented 4 months ago
It’s common practice in Melbourne for childcare centres to charge a regular day rate for public holidays. They claim that Centrelink requires it. I’ve been actively trying to get Centrelink to confirm so I can send it to the news outlets. For clarity: child care centres are closed for all public holidays, there’s no choice to bring your kid, so they’re just charging because they can.
Shane S 4 months ago
The risk management department of your US hospital’s whole reason for being is to prevent you from suing as a patient. They see all kinds of horrible situations and alleged malpractice and try, as quietly as they can, to fix it or off-board bad docs as quickly as possible. American patients are so litigious that they work hard to hide mistakes as long as they maintain plausible deniability.
Savahax 5 months ago (edited)
This is just the tip of the iceberg. When I was still in the Netherlands, one of my first programming jobs was at Fletcher Hotels and I literally had to write code to scam people. They made deals with other stores like Kruitvat to sell rooms that would otherwise stay empty for sure, at a high discount. No one was allowed to use these passes on weekends but they didn't tell them. So I had to hard code in that there was no availability if they used that coupon, even though there was, but the even more scammy bit was that I had to show the vacant rooms if they looked for vacancies without the coupon first. So they check vacancy, see that their hotel is free on the weekend, they go and buy the tickets and then log in with the code and it would then show no vacancies. I declined and quit after that
Salty_Sasquatch 4 months ago
I "won" a free weekend at a hotel on the beach. I was told to call ahead to make reservations. I called many times for a couple months. No matter what the date I requested they were full. Even autumn days.
Load More Replies... AndThenICommented 4 months ago
It’s common practice in Melbourne for childcare centres to charge a regular day rate for public holidays. They claim that Centrelink requires it. I’ve been actively trying to get Centrelink to confirm so I can send it to the news outlets. For clarity: child care centres are closed for all public holidays, there’s no choice to bring your kid, so they’re just charging because they can.
Shane S 4 months ago
The risk management department of your US hospital’s whole reason for being is to prevent you from suing as a patient. They see all kinds of horrible situations and alleged malpractice and try, as quietly as they can, to fix it or off-board bad docs as quickly as possible. American patients are so litigious that they work hard to hide mistakes as long as they maintain plausible deniability.
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