'Ok boss. Whatever you say': Boss says "No overtime" and costs company big when the entire production line shuts down

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Sep 14, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

There is no shortage of stories online consisting of a misguided middle manager who establishes a blanket "No overtime" policy that ends up getting maliciously complied with by some worker or group of workers to the tune of disastrous results. Still, as evidenced by the volume of stories out there, there are still supervisors out there seeking to cut the cost of labor by banning overtime, blind to the fact that overtime is happening because their teams are spread too thin and chronically understaffed. 

It's probably wisest at this point to never implement any policy that strictly forbids workers from working overtime. Instead, set the expectation that any necessary overtime will be worked before forcing those overtime workers to jump through as many hoops as possible in order to claim it to make the process as painful as possible so that they just won't be bothered. Of course, you'll then end up with workers maliciously complying with this by taking as long as possible to fill out that extensive paperwork, at which point you can just threaten their livelihood and their jobs to keep them in line… After all, what do you, a power-hungry, budget-focused middle manager, care about things like business ethics or team morale? 

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    Sleeve - LOVE
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    Font - Posted by u/GravityzCatz No more overtime? OK boss. Whatever you say. Years ago, I used to work for a plastic injection company in my hometown. It wasn't a huge company, but they had 2 plants in my state, 2 in 2 other states, one in the UK and one in Germany. So not small either. It was a 24hr production facility, which means the machines run 24/7 except from December 23rd to January 2nd. I was one of two
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  • 03
    Font - delivery drivers who moved finished product from the plant to a nearby warehouse, and brought raw materials and packaging supplies back to the plant. On a good day I'd get 4-5 back and forth trips done in a 12 hour day. On my last run back to the warehouse, I'd always go around to the floor people and make sure they had what they needed to make it though the night (driver was the only floor position that wasn't 24 hours) so that nothing would shut down. Well sometimes they would forget so
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  • 04
    Font - One day my supervisor pulls me aside and says I need to stop taking overtime. I explain why and he doesn't care. No more overtime. I say ok, and we go on with our day. Near the end of my next shift, I am 15 minutes shy of being able to clock out and I am just finishing packing up the truck to do the next morning run, when one of the floor people comes over and tells me he forgot something. I say, sorry, no can do. I'm not allowed any more overtime to go and pick up the material. Apparentl
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  • 05
    Font - 3 machines would shut down overnight. If any of you have ever worked in plastic injection, you know those machines get so hot they melt the plastic being injected. If they have no material flowing in them, they have to get shut down or they will get too hot. It can take hours for them to cool down, and they have to be started from a cold state when you go to reboot them. So if it runs out of material, production has to stop, the machines has to take about 10-12 hours to cool down and then
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  • 06
    Font - The next morning rolls around and I am called into the plant supervisors office, he is my supervisors, supervisors boss, and is one of the owners of the entire company. He is shaking mad, because just as my co-worker predicted, 3 machines shut down overnight and were going to be out of commission until nearly 2pm that afternoon. He was going to fire me on the spot but gave me a chance to explain myself. When I told him what I used to do, and what
    via u/GravityzCatz
  • 07
    Font - my supervisor had told me to do, he let out a big sigh and told me to go back to the floor, and that if I need to take overtime to keep machines from going offline, to just do it from now on. Shortly after that, my supervisor was called into his office. Now unfortunately, he is the son of one of the other owners so they didn't fire him, but I never got yelled at about overtime ever again.
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    Font - EDIT: I forgot to include the fact that I later found out that my little stunt cost the company something like $3,000/hr in lost production over the course of like an entire day, because one the machines heating coils broke when it cooled down and had to be replaced so all in all I cost them 10's of thousands of dollars. Guess it was easier just to pay me time-and-a-half for a few hours every pay.
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  • 09
    Font - Retired 9 hr. ago It's amazing that supervisor didn't understand the consequences of not getting the needed materials. Oh, wait, he was the son of one of the owners. Never mind ... Vote Reply Share ●●●
    via u/GravityzCatz
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    Font - slash_networkboy HOll I have no fi works, but I know enough: +3.9 hr. ago clue how that all • it's a 24hr/day production facility • the guy getting OT that I want to cut back on told me the OT is because someone else forgot to order stuff • the guy getting OT is just making sure we don't have lines down situation So if I want to eliminate the OT then I need to figure out who's forgetting to order the so they need overnight. Vote My God, it's rocket surgery! ~s Reply Share
    via u/GravityzCatz
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    Font - ProblemFresh1587 MC that costs the company big money is the best kind of MC Vote Javasteam Reply Share I think I prefer the fact the mud in this case clearly went back to the source... Reply Share Vote
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    Font - RealUltimate Papo That exasperated sigh must have been the most satisfying thing in the world to hear Hopefully they'll learn to trust your judgement a lot more Reply Share Vote GravityzCatz OP It was years ago and I don't work their anymore, but yes that sigh was extremely satisfying. I got the feeling this wasn't the first time my supervisor had done something bone-headed like this before Vote Reply Share ●●●
    via u/GravityzCatz
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    Font - Arrasor Nepotism costs money?! Who could have thought! Vote Reply Share pathofuncertainty Vote ●●● Money, morale, reputation with customers.... Can down an entire company with just a little nepotism. Reply Share ...
    via u/GravityzCatz
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    Font - Ben_Hocking If I'm reading this correctly, the only mistake you made was not getting it in writing. Luckily for you, he didn't deny it. Reply Share Vote GravityzCatz OP I didn't think about that at the time, yeah. But like I said in another comment the sigh he let out made me think this wasn't the first time jr had foed something important up. Vote Reply Share
    via u/GravityzCatz
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    Font - Bullet_Maggnet It wasn't "Your little stunt", you were following the instructions of your immediate supervisor. Vote Reply Share
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  • 16
    Font - Minflick No, that supervisor cost the company that. You were following orders. Reply Share 00 Vote Flying Dutchman16 The supervisor's father cost the company that. Vote Minflick True that! Vote Reply Share ●●● Reply Share ●●●
    via u/GravityzCatz

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workplace-stories in-the-workplace workplace-story malicious compliance workplace Horrible Bosses employment
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