Pexels/Reddit

Time tracking at work usually means logging hours in broad strokes, not stopwatching every single task down to the minute.

One employee found herself facing exactly that after her company rolled out a new mandatory system requiring 36 hours of logged time per week, broken down task by task with zero room for estimation.

So rather than quietly accepting what she considered one of the most impractical policies she’d ever encountered, she took her concerns straight to the CEO.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

I Quit my job because of dumbest policy ever

My workplace recently introduced a mandatory time logging requirement of 36 hours per week, coupled with a strict task-based approach.

This had pretty troubling implications for the employee.

This meant that for every task I completed, I had to meticulously log the exact time spent on it.

For instance, if I spent an hour building a report, I had to record precisely that hour.

The employee was also required to do this for much more inconsequential tasks.

Similarly, even for short tasks like writing a 10-minute email, I needed to jot down the duration and multiply it by the number of emails I wrote each week.

I found this approach incredibly impractical and, frankly, one of the most absurd requirements I had ever encountered.

So the employee voiced their concerns to leadership.

I took it upon myself to voice my concerns to the CEO, emphasizing the need to separate task management from time tracking.

To make matters more cumbersome, we were also obliged to start and stop a timer for every activity, leaving no room for estimations or approximations.

Sounds like textbook micromanaging.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter never passes up an opportunity for malicious compliance.

There could be much more sinister intentions at play.

If the boss is going to micromanage, why not take it one step further?

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Time tracking was a big pain point for this employee too.

Micromanaging employees to time track their every move is pretty much the opposite of efficiency.

The true absurdity isn’t really about the 36-hour requirement itself, it’s about demanding precision for tasks that don’t require it.

It was a bold move to bring this right to the CEO, but still, it’s better than idly standing by and accepting an unjust directive.

Standing up for what’s right isn’t easy, but someone’s gotta do it.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.