Small company gets bought out, new CEO demands employees to look busy, cue malicious compliance: 'We're basically creating a public perception of busy without actually doing too much'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Sep 14, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

It's a tale as old as time. You have the perfect job at a small company, everybody manages their workload well, and things are going smoothly. Then, the company finally gets bought out by a larger one, and a new CEO enters the picture. What follows is a seismic cultural shift with new expectations, responsibilities, and rules.

This thread was posted to Reddit by RevolutionFriendly56, who shared their side of the story after their new CEO decided to lecture everyone about loyalty and staying busy. The original poster (OP) then turned to their coworkers, and they embarked on a mission to enact some well-deserved malicious compliance. As a sign of loyalty, they decided to schedule extra meetings and have long, endless business conversations with plenty of discussion about the future of the company but very little execution. The result? Everyone certainly looked busy, and since the minutes were filled with empty praise for the CEO, he didn't seem to take any issue with this.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the subsequent consequences. For more, check out this post about a boss's frank confrontation with their employee.

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    To Do IN P Dine Gal -Comet Promi Dania Mont -MUP-CAPI to today Beckley
    via Austin Distel
  • 02
    Loyalty goes both ways M I am a worker bee in a company that got bought out by a much bigger company earlier this year.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    Even though we were a small company, the teams. were flexible, and everyone helped each other, and the company was profitable. Not to the new ownership though.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 04
    Apparently our company was s, and needed to be immediately fixed with "structure, hierarchy, and order".
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 05
    The managers I've worked so well with over the years are gone. The new owners promised no change, nothing to worry about,
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 06
    everything will be the same. Except that within a month, all the experienced managers who made the workplace so great to work for are let go.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 07
    What is worse, they've been replaced by emotionless walking husks resembling ghosts, with hammers as their only tool, and we're all nails.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 08
    Nevermind the incessant preaching of company spirit and loyalty and respect and company values. We all moan at these pep talks. We all yawn at the townhalls.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 09
    Then the less subtle threats: Oh, you're not a team player if you don't do X, Y, and Z.. You need to work OT, or else that's not fair to everyone else.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 10
    You're leaving on time, again? The culture certainly has changed. For one, I didn't even dare to take off early to pick up my kids from school anymore.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 11
    Finally, the toxic culture of fear and backstabbing. Every words said against the direction, even off the cuff in a chitchat, and
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    every little facial or non- verbal gesture against the flow are immediately and harshly met with reprimands. For example,
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    another worker bee was recently let go for restructuring, despite stellar work performance. He just couldn't keep his thoughts to himself I guess.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 14
    I hope I painted a good picture of what life under the iron fist is like.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 15
    Many of us are contemplating of leaving, but the job market is quite depressing in our area. The cost of living is high, and we are afraid of being the neck that sticks. out. So everyone suffers in silence.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 16
    The company recently appointed a new CEO who, in his opening introduction to everyone,
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    demanded undivided loyalty (to him). It means. we must follow his every direction. It means we must smile in his presence and be super
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    upbeat. I think the expectation here is we must cry like North Korean women in the presence of the supreme leader
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    You want us absolute loyalty? I believe loyalty goes both ways. But we can show you loyalty.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 20
    We all got the message. You want us to play oscar winning actors and actresses instead of actually getting work done and speaking our minds to make the company better? You got it!
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    For those of us who read and trust each other (but we still need to be careful), we would have hours-long meetings with each other, on topics that sound important, but
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    don't actually matter. We make sure our days are jammed pack full of discussions on how to move initiatives forward,
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    but never actually discuss anything of substance and never have aggressive action items to follow-up on. We absolutely never forget to praise the leadership in the meeting minutes. Off
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    the books, though, there's lots of small talks - for the sake of teambuilding.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 25
    Whenever we're questioned by these husks of a ghost, we'd pull out the corporate roadmap and point to the initiatives we've spent so many hours working on.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    We'd defend our time with the budget that recently got rolled out, look we're on-side. We've gone so far as requesting
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    additional resources in next year's budget to ensure our very busy initiatives continue to make headway.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
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    We're basically creating a public perception of busy, without actually doing too much.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 29
    We were a lean small company. Now we're a fat, busybody where everything is bloated and compartmentalized.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 30
    We shut our faces and we nodded. We clapped the hardest after every presidential speeches. And we lost money in the last several months.
    via RevolutionFriendly56
  • 31
    That's the price we pay to give one-sided loyalty. We're still looking for other jobs.
    via RevolutionFriendly56

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workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job malicious compliance work malicious-compliance-reddit reddit thread Reddit company workplace malicious compliance toxic-work-environment
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