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.

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)

Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)

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.”

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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