'They're going to be pulling the office keycard data to see who actually does go in': Employee comes up with grand scheme to avoid in person work

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 16, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

The lengths people will go to avoid time in the office are truly inspiring.

 

This employee figured out a way to avoid as much in-person office time as possible following the announcement by their bosses that everyone is required to work in the office two days a week. Their system of monitoring this is to use office keycard data to see who "checks in" and how often they do. The problem is that they have no way of monitoring how long you actually stay there. So what did this Redditor do? Well, they scheduled an in-person meeting twice a week for one hour only and decided to go with a "get in, get out quickly" strategy. 

 

If this continues to work with no one else noticing, we have to say that we're impressed. Take notes from this Redditor, everyone. You can scroll below for highlights from the full thread, which was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/tallpaleandwholesome. For more work-related drama, check out this story about a horrible job posting designed to entice millennial and Gen-Z workers.

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  • 01
    Font - You want us at the office twice a week, and you're going to pull keycard reports to validate? Sure, I'll show up on these reports. SOC Pretty sure this belongs here. So I've been working at this big company (>10k employees) since 2014. My entire team is in other cities or other offices in my city...so I've basically been working from home since then. There's no point going in the office - I'd just be on the phone in my cubicle instead of at home. Did go in once in a blue moon when we'd do
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 02
    Font - Then Covid came along...and we were all sent home. No change for me really...but even though 2021 was our most successful year, of course, the company didn't take the opportunity to downsize on all their office buildings, and have been asking people to come back to the office. Then that became a new mandatory policy - everyone has to be in at least 2 days a week.
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 03
    Font - And then we learned - they're going to be pulling the office keycard data to see who actually does go in (what's next? They're going to ask us to clock in and clock out??). So what do I do? Just scheduled myself a 1 hour meeting twice a week from 11am- 12pm...and I drive to the office (~15-20 min w/no traffic), swipe in, get back out (we don't need to swipe our card to get out) and come back home! Hopefully their little "lets pull out the keycard data" exercise will stop when they're sati
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 04
    Font - WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch 2 days ago +4. My friend worked for a company that mandated in-office work. They had neither enough parking spaces nor desks for people to work from. Yet company still mandated in-person. His manager couldn't understand why 2/3 of their team quit... Reply Share 2.3k
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 05
    Font - cuatrodosocho - 2 days ago Did they have enough parking spaces and desks after the exodus? ↑687 Reply Share
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 06
    Font - MakionGarvinus +1. 2 days ago Problem solved! Such a great idea man!! 436 Reply Share
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 07
    Font - AntiqueBread1337. 2 days ago Think of the savings in payroll too! That VP is getting an extra large bonus this quarter. 4230 Reply Share
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 08
    Font - Lorelessone 1 day ago +3. I'm laughing but almost certainly true. "Let's all have a round of applause for Frank, for solving the parking and office space problem as well as cutting payroll by two thirds! He's getting a double bonus!" "In unrelated news we need to ask employees to work 40 hours a day to meet targets, they are clearly slacking" 160 Reply
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 09
    Font - miker53. 1 day ago Why can't you put in 51 hours in a day? Good call on leaving and you probably got a raise too.
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 10
    Font - Charles Darwin59 1 day ago This was a few years back but I worked for a manager who didn't understand that weather could be very different in the span of 10 miles. We had the ability to work from home so when I got up if it was blizzarding I would log in from home.
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 11
    Font - That was no Bueno. We "weren't as efficient" at home. so a new policy was put in that she would determine when the weather was bad enough to work from home. I live 10 or 15 miles from the office in a rural area. She lives 5 blocks from the office. I followed company policy and when the weather was dangerous to drive in I simply refused to go in. I would take a pto day if she insisted. That then also started to get monitored and you had to provide a doctor's note within 4 hours of calling
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 12
    Font - Cue the blizzard. I text her and tell her that the blizzard is really bad at my place and I don't think it's safe to drive in. She says it's fine at the office and I need to come in. I drive a 2 wheel drive small car. I pack warm food Blanket etc etc and start the drive in.
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 13
    Font - It's white out conditions, almost no cars on the road. I made it to work and within a few minutes the storm hit the office. My boss quickly realized it was only going to get worse and we were the only people in the office. She told us to all go home. So after being in the office 15 minutes I started to drive back home.
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 14
    Font - My first few miles weren't bad but I knew the hill by the quarry would be where I would get stuck or run off the road. The berms on either side caused the snow to get really deep and packed. They were barely passable on the way in. Sure enough as I get closer I find the first snow drift deeper than my tires were tall and I was well and truly stuck. The plows in my county don't go out when it's that bad so I put my flashers on and put out warning battery "flares" I already knew from past e
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 15
    Font - I then proceeded to log in via the web portal on my 5 inch wide phone. I told my boss I was stuck, that the tow trucks weren't running until the storm ended. She told me to stay safe and just log the day as PTO. I sent her a screen shot of the policy stating that "under no circumstances can PTO be used unless scheduled 1 week in advance" and that I didn't want to be written up for it so I WILL be working from my phone all day. I think she realized at this point that she was only going to
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome
  • 16
    Font - I put in a days work and accomplished basically nothing all day because trying to use a computer with no keyboard and a 5" screen is pretty hard. I clocked out at 5pm and called my neighbor who has a snow machine. He was happy to come get me and drop me off at home. It took 36 hours before tow trucks would come get my car out. My next day in the office I walked the tow truck bill to accounts payable and told them it was a business expense. I walked to hr with a copy of my texts, IMs, and
    via u/tallpaleandwholesome

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remote antiwork employee job malicious compliance Office Horrible Bosses reddit thread Reddit
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