Micromanager enforces 14-hour Zoom call to monitor employees, entire team quits to work for their competitor: 'The company closed'

There are numerous ways to monitor employees' progress without making them feel like they are being watched like a hawk. However, it's safe to say that enforcing a new rule that requires a team to log into Zoom calls that last the entire duration of the workday is a bridge too far.

Look, it's an unfortunate reality that in every workplace, a large part of a manager's job is to ensure that all the employees working under them are meeting their expectations and deadlines properly. This inevitably means that managers are going to have to track your progress and productivity in some capacity. However, there should be boundaries and respect for how other people get their work done. 

While managers have to likely gather information on their team's progress and report it to their respective bosses, another key part of management is ensuring that the people who work under you feel supported and taken care of at work. Invading employees' privacy and making your team members feel like they cannot be themselves throughout the workday is not exactly conducive to a healthy work environment. It should be within every employee's right to create their own sense of safety and freedom in the workplace, provided that they are completing their work on time and fulfilling their responsibilities without inconveniencing others on the team. As long as others are not adversely affected by the way in which an employee chooses to work, their manager should not feel entitled to restrict their sense of freedom at work. 

In this instance, this manager tried to institute 14-hour Zoom calls in order to track the every move of their fully remote employees, thereby defeating the purpose of being able to work remotely. Keep scrolling below to see how this manager's team responded to the new rule!

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  • "The 14 hour Zoom Call"

    A coffee cup sits next to a Macbook Air displaying employees on a Zoom call.
    via Compare Fibre

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • Of course, this new rule, which was initially intended to improve daily progress across the team, only backfired. Not only did progress actually slow down, but employees were also so enraged by the new policy that they decided to quit en masse and take jobs with the company's top competitor. That's what they call strength in numbers, folks!

  • After 4 straight years of doubling business our shareholders determined that we needed a proper manager. Manager started Monday
    via [deleted]
  • strategizing. Wednesday checkins, and Friday wrap up meetings all ranging between 1-2 hours. Things started to feel more corporate but hey company chipotle was nice. This visionary
    via [deleted]
  • noticed that during the meetings everybody was doing other tasks and mandated that during meetings all focus needs to be dedicated on the meeting. Aye aye captain.
    via [deleted]
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  • Progress slowed further. Somehow we got lazier being watched so he enacted the 14 hour zoom to keep us on task.this kept up for months as we coasted into oblivion. The
    via [deleted]
  • company closed, and we all now work for our competitor. I am playing Elden ring until I start next month.
    via [deleted]
  • A businessman carries a cardboard box outside with a clipboard that reads "Resignation."
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • orange... •4h ago Y'all were working 14 hour days? And it was the Zoom calls that set you over the edge? I'm sure I'm misunderstanding.
    via [deleted]
  • joeytw... 4h ago 14 hour zoom? Like, stay logged into Zoom all day, for "collaboration"?
    via [deleted]
  • Wog33... 5h ago Well now he got a healthy dose of reality didn't he?
    via [deleted]
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  • smooz... 4h ago • . I'm confused. Did yall have 14hr daily zoom calls? Or was that how many hours per week they ended up being? How many
    via [deleted]
  • hours a day did yall work? How long did it take for the business to go from "Hey we're doing pretty good" to "Everything must go sale"?
    via [deleted]
  • 626337 3h ago I'm the MaNaGeR and I'm here to mAnAgE you to make sure you're not fl Og off instead of doing the same work you've been doing all along.
    via [deleted]
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  • A great cautionary tale for those adhering to the belief of the value of middle managers.
    via [deleted]
  • Living_... 3h ago Thats why you should promote from the inside. The workers that work or the most angry worker because he's the guy who wants s do e
    via [deleted]
  • DynkoF... 3h ago At least you had a front row seat.
    via [deleted]
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  • Piggyp... 4h ago Not the cleverest person was he.
    via [deleted]

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workplace-stories micromanager work stories toxic-workplace job work i quit satisfying quitting story quitting work Horrible Bosses quitting story company quitting toxic-work-environment
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