Dissatisfied Employee Fools The Managers Into Thinking He Is Working More Than He Is Because They Wouldn’t Let Him Work From Home

For millions of working people around the world, the sudden shutdown of many offices and businesses during the peak of the pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work. According to Pew Research, more Americans today say they work from home out of choice rather than necessity.

Among those who have a job outside the home, 61 percent now say they prefer not to go there. Companies are increasingly adopting hybrid or fully WFH models, making the choice a no-brainer.

That's what one Redditor and an unnamed firm employee felt. He said he wanted to work from home full-time and "hated the office with a burning passion" in a post on the Malicious Compliance subreddit.

But, contrary to his expectations, the Redditor was allocated as a full-time employee in the office. He wrote, "It made no sense to me." It turns out that his firm used an unusual productivity metric to determine who was allowed to WFH and who wasn't.

"Basically, we have a company-wide instant messaging system that displays whether you are available, idle, or in a meeting." "You show as idle if you don't touch your keyboard for 5 minutes," they explained.

OP was shown as idle too often for him to be allowed to move to remote employment.

The Redditor, however, did not let up and devised a cunning strategy to defy their control. Continue reading to find out what he did.

This employee recently reported how he was denied the ability to work from home since he was frequently seen idling on work chat.

Elina (not that actual photo)

OP shares his story

Reddit

He hates the office and doesn't want to return. But he has to

Reddit

OP asked the managers about the logic behind the decision

Reddit

Because it was hard to understand

Reddit

And the explanation was ridiculous

Reddit

OP doesn't have to be active all the time - just when he has work to do

Reddit

Thanks to his capabilities and good time management, his queue is always empty.

Reddit

So, he wrote a code that would make him appear always online

Reddit

And now he is the star of the company.

Reddit

OP posted an update. Apparently, many people had the same problem and solved it with a mouse jiggler.

Reddit

OP even shared the code

Reddit

And explained how it can be adjusted

Reddit

Some people criticized OP, so he gave them a piece of his mind

Reddit

What do firefighters do? They fight fire when there is fire. They don't run around pretending to work when there is no fire around.

Reddit

Redditors were angry about the way the company measures productivity

Reddit

Others shared their tricks

Reddit

Primitive, but it works...

Reddit

Managers can be fooled so easily...

Reddit

In a nutshell:

Reddit

Some ridiculous rules there:

Reddit

Other Redditors shared their experiences:

Reddit

Bots rule!

Reddit

The bottom line:

Reddit

One rule that the managers still haven’t learned is that whenever they impose some ridiculous rule, employees will find a way around it. Being honest with employees and listening to their suggestions is the best way to run a company.

But somehow, they fail to see it. And cooperation ends up being a competition.