When you work for a company, you need to do your best and make sure that your work is done, but the company has an obligation to let you have a good work-life balance and treat you fairly.

What would you do if your company was denying employees important vacation days without giving a good reason?

That is what happened to the software developers in this story, so they quickly found other jobs and put in their notice, leaving the company scrambling.

Management denies basic leave and then acts shocked when people quit

I’m a project manager at a software org and honestly I still can’t process what just happened this week.

Sounds pretty typical.

We’re a mid sized desk. 5 devs working closely with me on a UI revamp (a lot of work had to be done). Tight timelines like always.

A month ago it was festive season and a couple of devs asked for leave. Normal stuff. One wanted to take time off for his wedding anniversary. Another for his kid’s first birthday. Others just wanted to go home and be with family for the festival.

Wow, was there a reason to say no?

Management straight up said no.

Reason? ‘the goal for the new UI changes isn’t completed yet’. No flexibility, no discussion, no compromise. Just nope. Deadlines over everything.

That already felt gross but it gets worse.

If a company mistreats you like this, it is time to leave.

Two of the devs started interviewing. They got offers from another company. They put in their papers properly. 30 days notice period as per contract. All clean.

Their last working day is literally tomorrow (Thursday).

What? They can’t do that.

Today HR suddenly jumps in and says ‘we’re extending your notice period by another 30 days’.

No prior warning. No clause explained. Just pressure. Emotional manipulation. Basically trying to trap them because now they realize team is falling apart.

Who cares what HR says. Just don’t show up.

These guys already planned their exit. new jobs lined up. and now this.

I’m sitting here as the PM watching this and honestly feeling sick.

Companies often do way more harm than good while trying to get things done.

This is how you kill morale and make sure people never trust leadership again.

Denying leave for anniversaries and a children’s birthday?? Then holding people hostage when they resign??

If they want employees to be committed and to take ownership, they need to treat them well.

And the thing is leadership still thinks this is about ‘commitment’ and ‘ownership’ nah man.

This is just unethical behavior dressed up as company policy.

Of course, why wouldn’t they?

The devs are still leaving. tomorrow. HR can shout all they want.

But this whole thing has made one thing very clear to me too.

No employee is special. Companies will always mistreat them if they can get away with it.

If this is how they treat engineers, PMs aren’t special either. We’re all replaceable to them when it’s convenient.

This system is broken and it’s exhausting watching good people get screwed for doing nothing wrong.

It can be very frustrating when a company mistreats the employees and then acts surprised when they want to leave.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Exactly.

As if their contract extension means anything.

Exactly, what are contracts even for.

They have no right to change that contract.

They can keep paying if they want, but the employees aren’t going to be working.

You can’t just change a contract without both parties agreeing.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.