Employees love working from home, but micromanaging bosses can’t stand it. Bad managers feel better about having eyes on their employees, making us think they’d only work if someone were watching them.
One productive employee came to Reddit venting after his boss changed their status from work-from-home to regularly reporting to the office for no real reason.
Boss Prefers Office Work
The Original Poster (OP) said his boss told him that he had to return to the office last week.
“He said I’m “so much more productive in the office,” lamented OP, stressing that the boss was wrong about his productivity levels.
OP Most Productive Employee
The OP shared that they’re the boss’s most productive employee, whether they work from home or at the office.
“I retain a high level of productivity regardless of location— according to our KPIs, I alone am as productive as everyone else combined,” he said.
But Lives Far Aways
Unfortunately, he lives too far away to make commuting reasonable. The boss decided to shift OP to part-time work (which resulted in a pay cut) so he could make it to the office regularly.
A key point to note is that the boss knew where OP lived when he hired him, and the original arrangement had OP working from home most of the time while reporting to the office on an as-needed basis.
Right To Work
As OP is in the United States, he enjoys few worker protections. In fact, he lives in a “Right-to-Work” state, which is 1984 double-speak for “right for the boss to fire you for whatever reason they pull out of their…hat.”
“He can cut the most productive person in his company for any reason or no reason at all,” stated OP.
Time for a New Job
A frustrated OP said they would start looking for a new job. The awful boss will lose his most productive employee, and the company will suffer.
Reddit users agreed that it’s time for OP to find employment elsewhere. His track record of productivity should make finding new work a breeze.
Decrease Everyone’s Productivity
In the meantime, Reddit offered OP some fun advice for making work tolerable. Bosses want employees in the office for communication and collaboration, so communicate and collaborate!
Start conversations and get the colleagues talking. See how much time everyone can waste under the guise of team building and collaboration. Showcase how unproductive office work really can be.
Don’t Maintain Performance
Others advised OP to be weary of his boss’s expectations. Bad managers love to cut employee hours while expecting the same output.
OP shouldn’t push himself to deliver the same results for less pay and a worse working environment.
“If you’re going to part time with the associated pay cut… then I would 1000% expect for your KPIs to drop by at least 50%,” said one user.
A New Job is the Best Bet
Although some workers suggested that OP talk with his boss about performance expectations and his stellar results, others said there’s no point. The boss likely has access to all that information and is too lazy to look or too concerned about appearances to care.
OP’s best bet is to use the in-office time to network and find a new job as soon as possible, leaving the boss to find a way to maintain the high KPIs without him.
Source: Reddit