"Scolded For Taking 25 Minutes Extra Break": Employee Shares Boss's Strict Rules In Viral Post

Reddit has become a popular platform for employees to share their job struggles, office experiences, and workplace concerns. Various subreddits have emerged as communities where employees can anonymously share their stories, seek advice, and connect with others who face similar challenges. An Indian employee recently shared a post to expose their manager's strict and seemingly unreasonable policies regarding employee breaks. In a post on Reddit, the employee shared four screenshots from an office group chat, where the manager can be seen reprimanding workers for taking extra breaks, including trips to the restroom.

The screenshots revealed that the manager had enforced a strict one-hour break policy, where every break taken by an employee, no matter how short, is deducted from the total 60 minutes allocated for breaks per day. 

"When you guys take break for 10-15 min, you need to take next break [keeping in mind the total] 60 minutes - (minus) the previous break. The total break in a day should not be more than 60 minutes. Hope that's okay right," one of the texts from the boss read. In another message, the boss reprimanded an employee for exceeding their daily break time by 27 minutes. The employee explained that they had been diligent about informing the manager of every single break, including brief trips to the restroom. The employee pointed out that these frequent, short breaks had accumulated and pushed their total break time over the allotted 60 minutes.

"Boss thrashed co-worker for taking 25 minutes extra break," the post was titled. 

See the post here:

Boss Thrashed coworker for taking 25 mins extra break
byu/Deepshit35 inIndianWorkplace

The manager also denied a request from another employee who asked for an additional 10-minute break to use the restroom. The manager's response was curt, "No, the official break is 60 minutes. That's all. Let's stick to that. I can't change that. Bye, no further messages." 

The post has sparked a heated debate about workplace policies and employee welfare. Many users expressed outrage and sympathy for the employees, calling the manager's policies "ridiculous" and "inhumane." Others have pointed out that such policies can lead to burnout, decreased productivity, and a toxic work environment.

The post has also raised questions about the legality and ethics of such policies, with some suggesting that the manager's actions may violate labour laws or human rights. One user wrote, "This seems like you are back to school where one has to take permission to go to rest rooms. Even schools seem better now."

Another commented, "I will never understand the company's obsession with a strict break time. What do they want to achieve with this? If someone completes their work of the day within 3/4 hrs what are they supposed to do for the next 6/5 hrs? Also, why so insecure of your employees that they have to share their screen over zoom."

A third said, "What kind of work is it? Are you folks required to sit and monitor something continuously/ customer support or you work on your own tasks? Why is it so rigid?" A fourth added, "Textbook definition of micro-management!"