Manager instructed a hybrid employee to follow 'core working hours.' Her compliance only made things worse

Imagine sitting in a dead-stop traffic jam, watching the minutes of your life tick away, all because the management insists you work during specific hours of the day. Well, for one man's (u/TheDragonDoji) wife, who works in the finance department of a government contractor, this became a reality. However, unlike most people, she refused to fold under pressure and made sure the company paid for its frustrating policies.

Extra hours on the weekend

Everything was running smoothly at the beginning, with the man's wife working at this company on a hybrid basis, given a limited workspace, with the expectation that her team would be on-site on either Monday or Tuesday. In this role, she was quite busy at the end of the month and often had to work a few extra hours in the evening or on the weekend. Nonetheless, whenever she had to be in the office, she'd prefer to start by 7 a.m. and finish by 3 p.m. to avoid getting stuck in traffic and wasting over an hour for a 30-minute commute.

The 'core hours' notice

About six months ago, "management issued an edict requiring 'core hours' (8-4) when in the office AND more in-office days," the man wrote. "My wife emails management stating that requiring her to sit in traffic for a wasted additional 4-5 hours a week would mean her evening & weekend flexibility would no longer be available." But the management, in proper management fashion, hit her with the "team player" response.

She started missing calls

In response, the woman sent them a detailed breakdown of her entire 40-hour week and how the flexibility established and continued since 2020 has yielded terrific results. She thought this would do the trick, but the management insisted that she adhere to the "core hours." So, as you'd expect, she started getting stuck in traffic and missing end-of-day calls. Of course, the management didn't like this but soon realized this policy was doing a lot of harm.

Soon, they decided to allow her to follow the previous schedule for the "foreseeable future." However, in a surprising turn of events, "recently her Management decided that all overtime has to now be approved by a direct line manager," the husband noted. As a result of this change, his wife started exiting calls midway through the conversation, stating that her overtime hadn't been approved. The management is looking at incomplete reports while the employees continue to maliciously adhere to this policy.

The consensus on 'managers'

A survey involving more than 3,000 people by GoodHire reveals that nearly 82% of the workers would quit their jobs because of a bad manager. Not just that, almost 83% believe that they could complete the tasks assigned to them without their manager's oversight. Additionally, they are also annoyed with managers who micromanage and managers who ask employees to work outside of their working hours. 

Redditors share their own experiences

This explains the Reddit community's reaction to this story. u/dunnowhattoputhere wrote, "I once attended a meeting from the car (I wasn't driving) and my boss said that was unprofessional, so I hung up. He then later wrote me up for hanging up on a meeting with an important client... it was important, so I tried to be there even in my commute, sheesh." Meanwhile, u/Fast_Vehicle_1888 commented, "It's as if the company just expected everyone to do unpaid overtime so they can meet their unattainable goals. Good for you for showing everyone that you are an employee and not a slave. No pay = no work."

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