'Before 9 and after 5 don't matter': Employee stops coming in early and working unpaid overtime after being admonished for a long lunch

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Mar 5, 2024 10:00 AM EST

Focusing intently on petty mistakes and slights is a surefire way to make sure you miss the big picture. As a leader, this is a fantastic way to make your workers feel like they're being micromanaged and have no agency, potentially derailing the entire organization along with the workers' sinking morale. Sure, if someone isn't pulling their weight it makes sense to step in, but when your team member is late back from lunch one time after coming in sometimes hours early, you'd do well to cut them some slack.

This worker worked for a large brokerage, consistently performing to a high standard and undertaking their tasks with a minimal amount of supervision. They'd frequently come in early to get a head start on their day, totaling a large amount of unaccounted time that went unregarded by their managers. One day, after returning ten minutes late from lunch, they were verbally reprimanded for an hour by a manager. When the worker asked the manager if they realized how early they were starting work and how late they were sometimes leading, the manager declared, "It doesn't matter how early you get in or how late you stay, only what happens between nine and five that counts." 

So, the worker took that message to heart, no longer coming in early and always leaving right at five when their workday was supposed to end. That ten minutes that the manager had made an issue out of cost the company hours of productivity, eventually leading to the worker's departure. The worker shared that they had heard that it took the organization three workers to cover the work they had been doing alone. 

See their story below, along with the reactions from the popular online community where they originally shared it.

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  • 01
    "Exactly at 5:00 PM I would shut down my computers and leave for the day."
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 02
    ● r/MaliciousCompliance 6 hr. ago Latter-Station2328 r/ Before nine and after five don't matter M I worked for a large brokerage firm in their mutual funds division. My duties included working on special projects for the controller, coordinating with the users on any issues that needed to be addressed and working on automating all processes. I loved my job and I was real good at it. As I had these various tasks, I had two computers so that I could run the programs that I was modifying while stil
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 03
    As I stated I loved the work since I basically did what I wanted to do with minimal, if any supervision. Due to this I regularly came in early, sometimes as early as 7:00 AM, and staying as late as 7:00 PM.I easily did two to three times the work of anyone else. I was always the first one in and generally the last one to leave. One day I took a lunch break, which was also rare as I brought my lunch and worked straight through. Unfortunately, I had some errands to run and I ended up getting back
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 04
    managers office where he reamed for an hour over these ten minutes. I had enough of this, and I asked him if he realized how early I got in and how late I stayed. His answer totally blew me away. He said it doesn't matter how early you get in or how late you stay, only what happens between nine and five that counts. Cue malicious compliance. I stopped going in early, I would take a walk or read a book until 8:55 AM. I would take a break mid-morning, take exactly one hour for lunch and another br
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 05
    shut down my computers and leave for the day. He never said anything about this at he knew he brought it on himself. All that resulted from this is he lost over five hours of work a day from me. Not long after this I left for brighter pastures at an increase of total compensation of almost 100%. (It was possible as I went to a very high scale investment firm.) Later on I found out that they had to hire three people to do my work. Like they say, you don't know how good you have until it disappear
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 06
    night-otter 5h ago ● I used to work at a place with a great team. We all loved the work and routinely put in 50-60 hours a week. Yeah, yeah, we were stupid loyal. New management decreed that all our projects needed to tracked, with time cards filled out with projects and time spent each day on each one. Thus they discovered just how many hours we were putting in. Since they were in turn charging the customer, the customer rightly pitched a fit about spending 20-50% on overtime for the projects.
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 07
    Word came down, no more than 10% overtime...ever. First thing we did was rewrite the timelines for all the projects. 6 months turned in 9. 1 year into 18 months. 2 months in to 2.5 months. you get the picture. Customer pitched a fit again. OT or longer timelines??? Once we told the customer, via our personal contacts, that we didn't see any of the OT money, they chose longer timelines.
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 08
    Every new boss (bungee bosses) would ask us to do more hours. "Off the books? That violates company policy." "errrr..." "Is the customer willing to pay for the OT?" we knew that answer was no. "errrr..." After about a year, my answer became: "No, my wife likes having me home at a reasonable hour." That stopped them asking me for extra hours. 41 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 09
    6h ago You should not have been giving them all that time in the first place. It's never and rarely reimbursed. appreciated 41↓ Reply HootblackDesiato Share :
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 10
    Starrion 6h ago ● My wife was like this at her last job. If asked to take something on, she would just learn how it worked and did it. She ended up owning networking, Telecomm, Server/email admin, and deskside support for a complex with 2 buildings and 150 users. When she left they hired an agency to replace her, and their people reportedly hated hearing how she never had a problem handling 'x'. 41 ↓ Reply ↑ Share ...
    via u/Latter-Station2328
  • 11
    theoldman-1313 I love these tales about managers who are so fixated on something small and inconsequential that they damage their own organization. A lot of managers make decisions to satisfy their personal needs (in your case, either control or structure), not for the good of the business. I feel that this fact is glossed over a lot when discussing economics. 1 ↓ 4h ago ● Reply ↑ Share
    via u/Latter-Station2328

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