Employee of 10 years quit over a single sentence at company meeting — and the internet sides with him

Workplace culture shows the real personality of a company; it's the shared set of values and beliefs that is essential for attracting and retaining good employees. However, if the culture isn't thriving, more often than not, it will make even the best employees contemplate their future at the company. A case in point: a single sentence at a meeting forced one employee to walk away from a decade-long career sparking discussions on the importance of work culture. In one post on Reddit, user u/Shootchyask talked about how a district meeting theme, "There's no such thing as work/life balance, so enjoy the job you do," triggered their decision to leave.

"That's what finally broke the barrier in my brain that company loyalty doesn't mean a thing if they are just going to work you to death," the person wrote in the post. "For context, this is a national retail chain," they added. Later speaking with Newsweek, Jonathan Hinton Westover, chair and professor of organizational leadership and change at Utah Valley University, said, "Personally, if I worked at a company that had this culture, I would be actively looking for a new job with a different organization." He added how the mentality was "unhealthy," and "toxic" and almost always leads to exploitation of workers. 

Many took to the comment section to talk bout the theme of the district meeting which was pretty problematic, to say the least. "Had a friend leave our company when the CEO gave a speech about us all being on a boat sailing together and if we don’t work together we may as well stay on the dock. Her resignation letter just said I enjoy staying on the dock." Netizens poured in to share their own stories. u/RebCata said. "I left a company after I raised concerns about some seriously unethical things they were doing to vulnerable populations – elderly, sick, and poor people – and the CEO told me that was how the industry operated and if I couldn’t handle it, I should leave. Bet," added u/omggold. "I'm slowly building that mindset. I quit one job that was heavy work and light pay for a job that was light work and paid more," wrote u/gatorpaid. 

In many companies, the work culture isn't necessarily employee-friendly, and workers don't even realize that unless they hear somebody else's perspective. In connection with this idea, Miika Makitalo, the CEO of HappyOrNot, who hails from Finland (which is dubbed as the "World's Happiest Country"), shared his thoughts on why Finland is the happiest adding that it largely depends on their excellent work culture. Speaking to Newsweek, he talked about the Finnish phrase 'kell' oni on, se Onnen kätkeköön' which translates to "whoever has found happiness, that happiness she should hide." He goes on to talk about the "trusting workplace attitude" and also the society that places a huge value on trusting others and not overthinking. He also talked about flexible work practices and the trust between the employees and the employers. "Managers are encouraged to think how they can serve their team members to deliver their best," Makitalo mentioned. "It's a culture where I can focus on how I can do my job to the best of my ability. This freedom and trust transcend the workplace too."