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Manager Gets A Dose Of Malicious Compliance After Penalizing Team For Working From Home
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Manager Gets A Dose Of Malicious Compliance After Penalizing Team For Working From Home

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Recently, an office worker turned to the Malicious Compliance subreddit to share an incident they had at work. “We have a hybrid policy, two days on site, three days WFH. We can’t pick the day we work from the office (this changes every month),” the Redditor explained.

The problem arose when one day, all three members of the author’s team decided to work from home due to a heavy workload. “Only time this has happened since the office opened a year ago,” they added.

Turns out, the manager was far from impressed with the team’s behavior so she sent a patronizing email telling them that she was counting this as not working that day. This is when the team had no choice but to maliciously comply.

RELATED:

    A manager counts working from home as not a working day, team maliciously complies and takes their PTO, leaving all the work for her

    Image credits: Vlada Karpovich (not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: Normal_Plantain_123

    Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of the hybrid work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts and author of multiple best-selling books, to comment on this particular situation and find out what his advice for any employee in a similar position would be.

    “That’s certainly problematic behavior by the manager. It’s clear the manager is exhibiting a passive-aggressive style of management, both in her initial patronizing email and in her subsequent efforts to punish her employees,” Dr. Tsipursky told us.

    “What I would suggest to the employees is to document the situation,” the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts said. “Keep a record of the instances where your manager has displayed passive-aggressive behavior and any negative impacts it has had on your work or well-being. This documentation can be useful if you need to escalate the situation to HR or a higher-level manager.”

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    Moreover, the situation is clearly unsustainable, Dr. Tsipursky said. “After documenting the situation, it’s important to use this documentation as a basis for scheduling a meeting with your manager to discuss the situation and express your concerns about their behavior. Explain how it is impacting your work and well-being, and try to find a solution that benefits both parties.”

    According to Dr. Tsipursky, if your manager’s behavior persists, consider involving HR and/or senior management. “They can mediate a conversation between you and your manager, provide guidance and support, and help resolve the issue. The senior management already clearly intervened to change the unreasonable and unfair policy on PTO.”

    “Finally,” Dr. Tsipursky continued, “if the situation is untenable and continues to have a negative impact on your work or well-being, you may need to consider seeking alternative employment that better aligns with your needs, and where they adopt best practices in hybrid and remote work.”

    And this is what people thought about this whole situation, sharing their own experiences. Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!

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    Liucija Adomaite

    Liucija Adomaite

    Writer, Community member

    Read more »

    Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

    Read less »
    Liucija Adomaite

    Liucija Adomaite

    Writer, Community member

    Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

    Read less »

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

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    White Sauce Hot Sauce
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For these types of managers, it's less about having a productive workforce, and more about lording this type of control over people in order to justify their employment.

    John G
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep. My company has insisted that people come in now 3 days a week. Even when shown that productivity was up with WFH. I have a short commute, but know people that it is now costing a substantial time to commute. I think I would just take it out of my 8h.

    Load More Replies...
    Stacia
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Serves her right. She's at the wrong company then. My department still lets us WFH on the days we choose. As long as the work is getting done they don't care.

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ohoh? So WFH is PTO? OK. Then I won't answer my phone or email AT ALL during PTO or weekends.

    Load More Comments
    White Sauce Hot Sauce
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For these types of managers, it's less about having a productive workforce, and more about lording this type of control over people in order to justify their employment.

    John G
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yep. My company has insisted that people come in now 3 days a week. Even when shown that productivity was up with WFH. I have a short commute, but know people that it is now costing a substantial time to commute. I think I would just take it out of my 8h.

    Load More Replies...
    Stacia
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Serves her right. She's at the wrong company then. My department still lets us WFH on the days we choose. As long as the work is getting done they don't care.

    censorshipsucks
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ohoh? So WFH is PTO? OK. Then I won't answer my phone or email AT ALL during PTO or weekends.

    Load More Comments
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