Some managers care more about looking busy than actually getting work done.

So when one WFH employee consistently finished their workload in half the time, their boss decided this just wouldn’t do.

That’s when the employee turned their efficiency into perfectly timed malicious compliance.

Keep reading for the full story!

Boss demands fauxductivity

My current job is a simple one and nice, as it is WFH. I receive work to file digitally, upload said documents, repeat.

The expected productivity according to my boss is laughably easy to achieve by myself.

Especially compared to other coworkers, he’s especially high performing.

However, others on my team seem to only be able to complete what is expected.

Every day, I achieve above-average uploads. Like I said, it’s super easy for me.

Even when he gets his work done early, he still tries to be an attentive employee.

I don’t go too over the top and can generally complete my whole workload, accurately, within a maximum of four hours every day. This leaves a lot of time to myself.

I always stay by my computer, however, in case my boss or a coworker needs help with other things.

But eventually, his boss finds a problem with his speed.

Just this past week, though, I have been reprimanded for “productivity” issues.

Basically, I was told I need to be doing something at all times and that gaps in work are unacceptable. This comes after having worked in this exact fashion for the last 10 months, by the way.

So, my boss demands that when I am clocked in, my upload records must always show that I have recently done something. There cannot be a gap in uploads longer than 10 minutes unless I’m clocked out.

They are basically demanding I do more work for the same amount of pay.

So this employee started working smarter, not harder.

Well, my solution was to set a timer on my phone that goes off every three and a half minutes, telling me to complete one upload.

So now I do the exact same amount of work over the course of eight hours instead of four.

Don’t want to pay me more for doing three times as much work as others? Then I’m not putting the effort in.

It’s silly to think I would.

This employee actually respects their time.

What did Reddit have to say?

Maybe these “incompetent” employees are the employees who’ve already wised up.

Bad bosses think they have these great ideas, but their directives usually just end in chaos.

Some employees will go to amazing lengths to avoid feeling ripped off by their boss.

When management stiffs on raises, employees stiff on effort.

If efficiency isn’t rewarded, there’s no reason to rush it.

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