Executive Tells Employee They Can’t Work on Other Projects and Should Work for the Company for Free on Their Days Off

Our occupations sometimes bleed into our personal lives, no matter how hard we try to strike the perfect work-life balance. Setting limits is challenging, especially now that we have access to the internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

While taking business calls and running errands after hours may become routine, we must remember that we are more than our jobs. Regrettably, not every employer agrees.

For example, on the Anti Work subreddit, user InfiniteMaf recently shared a story of a troubling encounter with their company's management after HR discovered that the employee had side gigs on weekends.

Even though this side job on the weekends is entirely unrelated to their 9-to-5 employment, the person was criticized by management. "If you have any free time, it should be spent working for us because we pay you a salary," an executive informed them, rather than respecting their personal time.

In other words, since you can work in your free time, it might as well be for us. Of course, it would be for free.

As you may expect, the author was not pleased. Check out the story below to see how the situation played out, and let us know what you think in the comments.

An employee recently mentioned how they left their job because management exhibited complete disregard for their personal time.

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"If you have free time..."

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OP told management that the side gig is none of their business since it's done on their time off.

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And he was right...

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But management thought that their time off should be spent working for the company instead of for others.

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Which didn't sit right with OP.

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So OP resigned. Management tried to convince them to stay...

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But OP quickly found a new job.

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It pays slightly less, but they have a lot more free time.

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OP posted an update.

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OP couldn't name the company because they like taking things to court.

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OP concluded:

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The story received over 36.9K upvotes and dozens of comments from individuals who praised the author's decision. Many Redditors began publicly criticizing entitled bosses and managers who believe they have the right to abuse their staff in this manner.

"Many [comments] affirm even more that I made the right choice!" the author said in one of the updates, revealing that they didn't expect this article to go viral as much as it did.

Your employer does not own you.

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You will never find a job like this one... Such a cliché.

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Some people actually want to spend time with their families, you know...

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Mining town logic - best comparison ever.

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We all need a vacation...

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They won’t last for very long...

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Free time is your time only. Your employers can’t touch it.

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And nothing more...

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Does resemble it...

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Your loss. There are plenty of people out there willing to work 24/7 for us.

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Sadly, employers are yet to learn about the distinction between work hours and free time. Just because you are paying someone’s salary doesn’t mean you own them.

“We are all family here” and “We want you to grow with our company” are just euphemisms for overworking. Things have to change.