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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/bubbabearzle on 2025-01-24 03:26:38+00:00.

My company was doing great with us all remote during the pandemic but because it is run by a bunch of lemmings days after Amazon announced their RTO policy outs instituted a RTO 3 days a week.

My boss made the unilateral decision that we would need to be in the office from (lets just make something up) 9:30am until 3:30pm (why those hours? Because those times work best for the boss man and his commute).

The problem that I brought up immediately is that we work with people from all over the world (western Europe and Asia), so if I need to meet with any of them we normally do it as early as 6am so it sucks equally for us all.

I mentioned to boss man that when I have an early call, I will be starting my day in the office at the ass crack of dawn and would leave once 8hrs is up (if you do the math, it is before 3:30pm, especially since I don’t normally take a lunch. I do this because the other option we were given was to take the early meeting from home, then log off, get ready, commute, and work the remaining 7 hours in the office. That would extend my work day way past 8hrs (and there is absolutely no work need for such long hours).

So, this is what I was doing until boss dude confronted me about why I was “leaving early” so often (my early meetings happen at least 2 of the 3 in office days). I cut him off and said "because I am here as early as I need to be, I don’t take a lunch, and I leave after working 8 full hours.

I was told that I am required to take an hour lunch during the work day (and that it did not count as time worked), basically trying to make me stay even longer each day.

He kinda let the subject drop, but I reached out to It and asked if I could be forced to work more than 8 hours per day just so I could sit and stare at my computer to make boss dude happy. HR informed me that boss dude can set required office hours, and that I am free to skip lunch but it does not mean I don’t have to stay til 3:30. He also said that because I am salaried I can be required to work longer days “if needed for business” (again, not the case).

So here is where the malicious compliance comes in: my only required hours are those 6 hours (as long as my work is done) and any early morning calls/meetings. When I was starting in the office at 6am, I was working a solid 8hr day (but often had to come up with things to fill extra time).

From here onwards, I will take the earliest call/meeting from home, then do the log off and commute in for 9am thing. But I am only required to be in work during those 6hrs (as long as my work is done, which it is). I will work for 1hr at home. I will be in the office during the required 6hrs. Because not taking lunch does not let me leave sooner, I will be taking 1hr off in the middle of the required hours.

As a result, I will now be working for 6hrs on days when I take and early meeting from home, and 5hrs on the other days. They wanted to. Micromanage us into not being motivated, I will give them what they want.