Entitled Gen-Z Crushed for Attacking Flex-Hours

I became a trending topic online in the middle of the night after a Gen-Z employee complained about me, citing that I had blurred the lines of the company's working hours by implementing flexible hours. However, the truth was that it did not matter to me what time the employees started work, as long as they completed the standard working hours at the end of the month. Many netizens even reported me to the Department of Labor. When I was given the order to amend the company's working hours, I agreed right away. "Our company will take the feedback and change accordingly." After that, I texted the company's group chat. [In accordance with the request of the Department of Labor, our company will now have strictly fixed hours from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Employees will be penalized for being late, even if it's just one minute. The company's electricity and internet will be automatically turned off right after working hours.] Less than one minute after I sent the text, everyone in the group exploded with agitation. Chapter 1 To ensure everyone in the company had a work-life balance, I decided to introduce flexible hours so employees could plan their time more freely. "From now on, there will no longer be any regular working hours. The company will calculate the total working hours at the end of every month, and employees only need to complete the required working hours stipulated." When this was announced, everyone cheered. As they quietened, I continued, "If there is an emergency project required to be completed, employees may apply for extra hours, and they will be compensated accordingly. "If the working hours do not meet the requirement, employees' salaries will be deducted in accordance with the missed hours." At this point, the new rule was officially established. Employees who had to fetch their children to school, senior employees who hated the rush hours, and younger employees who had trouble waking up early in the morning cheered with excitement. "You're the best, Mr. Samson." "Mr. Samson is my idol. You've given us a great company to work at!" "This is great! I never need to be stuck for an hour in traffic every time I come to work!" "Being stuck in traffic is nothing! This is great for people who have difficulty waking up in the morning! Night owls like us can finally go back to our normal life!" It made me happy to see everyone excited about this new policy. I knew everyone had their personal lives to tend to, and I did not want work to get in the way of them living their lives. As long as everyone got their jobs done, it would be a win-win situation for all of us. A few months after the company introduced this policy, most of the employees displayed excellent attitudes and a healthy demeanor. The company's profits had increased as well. Employees who increased their performance earned a higher income when they produced better results at work, while others who were able to balance their work and life enjoyed a better lifestyle. However, at the end of the month, a Gen-Z employee called Eddie Lundly posted something online in the middle of the night. It was a picture of the office at 3:00 am with the caption: [Implementing flexible hours is a trap capitalists use to take advantage of employees. By blurring the lines between fixed hours and flex-hours, we end up thinking about work for 24 hours!] This ignited the response of many netizens, and I ended up trending negatively online in the early hours of the morning. "Check the internet, Mr. Samson!" A call from our administration supervisor, Jenny Carter, woke me up from my dreams. It was 4:17 am. I went online and found the fifth trending topic with the headline: [Flexible hours is the capitalist's new trap for employees.] When I clicked into it, I saw that Eddie's 3:00 am picture had been shared by an influencer with three million followers with the caption: [Another labor-churning factory pretending to be humane. Working flexible hours means that employees need to work for 24 hours and be expected to be on call at any time.] The comments section exploded. [What a horrible boss. It looks great on the surface that his employees don't need to work regular hours, but in reality, he's making them work extra hours at 3:00 am.] [He should be reported to the Department of Labor.] [I've reported him.] As I continued scrolling through the comments, I saw several hundred netizens had posted the same comments. [I've reported him.] [I've reported him.] [I've reported him.] Jenny told me over the phone, "Eddie posted screenshots of our group chat where you made a request to amend a client's proposal, but he only included the part of your request that showed the 2:00 am timestamp." "What was the original request?" "He didn't include the part where you texted 'if you're free tomorrow' and 'it's not urgent'. What he shared was 'help me take a look at this proposal', and the timestamp recorded it at 2:03 am." I was silent for a few seconds. "Did you pull out the information on his total work hours this month?" "Yes, I did," Jenny replied in a low voice. "As of today, Eddie's actual work hours are only 62% of our standard working hours. He isn't in the office most of the time, which is why he stays late all the time to finish his work." "So, that's the reason he posted the picture of himself working late at the office at 3:00 am." "That's right." I put my phone down and massaged my temple. Eddie was absent from work most of the time, and when his work hours did not meet the required standard, he started to work overtime day and night. When he failed to complete his hours and work, he started to seek sympathy online. When the morning came, the situation did not improve. Celia Tomlinson, who worked at the company's front desk, came up to me looking troubled. "Mr. Samson, four groups of reporters are waiting for you downstairs. There is also a newsfluencer conducting a live stream with his phone at the entrance." "I'm not seeing them." "Also, we received a call from the Department of Labor. They received mass complaints about our company and have requested our cooperation to assist in their investigation. My phone buzzed the moment I entered my office. It was a text from one of our company's managers, Charlie Jenkins. [Mr. Samson, I think you should respond to the accusations. The online sentiment is damaging the company's reputation. I've been in this industry for decades and have never experienced anything like this before. If you need my help to handle this, I'm at your disposal.] Before I could reply, I received a text from Mike Loeb. [Mr. Samson, my department has three running projects with Ascott Limited, and they're concerned about the company's current predicament. My mentor, Charlie Jenkins, has a good relationship with them. How about getting his help to get in touch with them?] Something did not feel right about both of these texts. Charlie had been with the company for eight years, and his area of expertise was delegating his work to his subordinates. Mike was his mentee whom he had trained personally. When Mike's mother was seriously ill and had to be hospitalized, the company's flexible hours policy allowed him to accompany his mother at the hospital every morning, and he would return to the office in the afternoon. He had held my hand tightly when the flexible hours policy was announced, declaring, "Mr. Samson, I will always work for you." Something did not feel right when Charlie and Mike started singing the same tune, and I found out the reason 30 minutes later. Jenny looked pale when she entered my office again. "You should check the internet, Mr. Samson." Charlie and Mike had posted something online, respectively. The first post came from Charlie. [As a senior employee who has been with the company for eight years, it's only right that I speak out for fairness. Working flexible hours sounds great, but in reality, all it brings to the employees is pressure. Would you dare to ignore your boss when he texts you in the middle of the night? [If you don't reply to him, he might make your life difficult in the office. If you reply to him, it would take up your personal time. I don't want to offend anyone, but these are the facts.] Mike's post followed. [When my mother was hospitalized last year, I was grateful that the company allowed me flexible hours to arrange my time. However, being grateful doesn't mean that there aren't any issues with the system. [Most of my colleagues have been unhappy about this, but no one has dared to say anything. Eddie exposed the truth behind the flexible hours and said what the rest of us were too afraid to voice.] Both posts had tagged the same post that blew up. "What should we do, Mr. Samson?" I put my phone down on the table. "When is the Department of Labor visiting us?" "Tomorrow morning." "All right." I stood up. "Let them come." "What about Charlie Jenkins and Mike Loeb?" "Let them be. Let them run their mouths for now." I looked out of the window and saw a newsfluencer with his phone still raised in the air to capture the company's logo. My phone buzzed again. This time, it was an email from Joe Cross. Joe was a potential partner crucial to our project, and he was still observing us as a company. The email only had one sentence: [I'm watching this very closely, Mr. Samson.] Chapter 2 "Mr. Samson, the officers from the Department of Labor are here." It was 9:00 am the next day, and two men in suits came in behind Jenny. The man in the lead looked about 40, and the name tag on his chest read 'Caleb Smith'. "You must be Mr. Samson. We received mass complaints from the public, claiming that your company is using the excuse of flexible hours to force employees to work extra hours." "Please have a seat." I poured him a glass of water before continuing, "I have a rough understanding of the report against the company. What do you need from me?" "There's no rush. Please have a look at this first." Caleb showed me a stack of printed screenshots. "These are the chat histories we found online, indicating that you requested an employee to amend a proposal at 2:00 am. Also, several of your employees have revealed the situation of your company's flexible hours claim online." "Several of my employees?" "That's right. Besides Eddie Lundly, who was the first to make this statement, a manager from your company, Charlie Jenkins, and another employee, Mike Loeb, have also made similar statements." I nodded and pushed a file that I had prepared earlier to Caleb. "This is the working hours record of all employees in the past six months. The file also includes backend data from our attendance system and the overtime approval form. Every form has been confirmed and signed by the employees. Their extra hours payment can also be found in the file." Caleb flipped through a few pages and frowned. "Is this really Eddie Lundly's total hours for this month?" "Yes, it is. The company's flexible hours policy doesn't restrict the employee's working hours, but employees are required to calculate their total hours at the end of the month. If they don't fulfill the standard hours, their salaries will be deducted. Every employee has signed an agreement form about this." "Then why was he working at 3:00 am in the office?" "He has a habit of being absent from the office at the beginning of the month. When he fails to fulfill the standard hours, he'll start working through the night to complete his work. He chose to work until late at night to prevent his salary from being deducted. "After that, he took a picture of himself in the office, claiming that he's constantly on standby 24 hours a day." The other officer who came to the office with Caleb looked at the data before throwing Caleb a look. Caleb cleared his throat. "What about the issue of him having to amend a proposal at 2:00 am?" I flipped to the page containing the complete conversation. "This is the original text. He left out two sentences when he took the screenshot." Caleb was silent for several seconds after he was done looking through the file. "Mr. Samson, to be fair, the information you have provided is within the accepted workings of flex-hours for the employees. However…" He continued, "This issue has caused an impact on society. We have received more than 300 complaints from the public, and we're required to look into this. I suggest that you make some changes to give the public some closure." "What changes are you suggesting?" "Canceling the flexible hours policy, for example, and reinstating normal working hours. At the very least, the public should see that your company is trying to change." I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. "Mr. Smith, do you mean to tell me that there is no issue with our flexible hours policy, but I still have to change it just because this issue has blown up?" Caleb sighed. "I'm just doing my work, Mr. Samson. I understand your predicament, but this situation will only get worse if you don't do something about it." Jenny looked unhappy after he left. "Mr. Samson, Eddie was the one who made a false claim online. Why should we…" "We're changing the policy." Jenny was taken aback. "What?" "He's right. The damage is done." "How are you planning to change the policy?" I started to type. "In the strictest way possible." Ten minutes later, an announcement was made to the company's group chat. [In accordance with the request of the Department of Labor, the flexible hours policy will be canceled from tomorrow onward. All employees are required to clock in at 9:00 am and clock out at 5:00 pm sharp. The company's internet and electricity will be cut off after work, and the office doors will be locked. No one is allowed to stay in the office after that.] There was a short moment of dead silence before the news sank in, and everyone exploded right away. [What?! My son's classes end at 4:30 pm, and I need to leave at 3:30 pm to pick him up. What am I going to do now that flexible hours have been canceled?] [I live in the suburbs. I have to leave my house at 6:30 am if I have to make it in time for work at 9:00 am. That's four hours of commuting every day…] [The internet and electricity will be cut off after work? What's going to happen to the code I have written halfway in the afternoon? Won't the clients get mad if our deployment is delayed?] Messages continued flooding the group chat, but all I did was place my phone face down on the table. Someone knocked on the office door, and Charlie entered the room. "Mr. Samson, isn't it a little too rash to make a decision like this for the company?" I looked at him without saying a word. "Canceling the flexible hours policy will hurt the company. How about talking things through with the Department of Labor? I think I can represent everyone at the company to negotiate this with them." "Why would you want to negotiate this?" I asked. He replied, "Well, we should find a middle ground." "Charlie, that post you left online yesterday made things clear, didn't it? There was a twitch on his face. I said, "You should be happy that the company took action right away." Charlie tried to say something but could not. "Mr. Samson, Mr. Jenkins is right. Maybe you should reconsider this." Mike suddenly appeared at the door. I said, "I've considered this well enough. All employees are required to be at the office at 9:00 am sharp. Anyone who is a minute late will be penalized according to the company's policy." With that, I brushed past them to walk out of the door. By then, Charlie's face had turned pale. Chapter 3 "Eddie, I'd like to speak to you." I arrived at the company's front desk the next morning to see most of the employees looking tired and frazzled. They looked like they had been rushing to catch the earliest subway in the morning. Jenny's eyes were red as she told the people around her, while clocking in, that her son had been crying in the morning because he did not want her to leave. Jack Chorley was carrying a dark gray backpack on his back, with his hair looking like a mess. He must have rushed to the subway on his bicycle. Eddie arrived at 8:59 am at the office. He even smiled at me. "Good morning, Mr. Samson." "Come to my office." He followed me into the office, but I did not let him take a seat. "About your post online…" "Oh, that." He put down his backpack. "I was only telling the truth. The lights were on in the office at 3:00 am, and it was true that I was working." "According to the attendance system, you weren't in the office most of the time this month." "Well, it was flexible hours then. You were the one who set the rule that we weren't required to follow the regular work hours." I said, "Your attendance isn't up to standard this month." "That's because no one gave me any work. Isn't this a management problem?" I looked at him as he looked back at me. The way he was looking at me made me feel uncomfortable. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew what he was saying. "The screenshot you took of my text was missing some sentences." "All I did was take a screenshot of the main point of the conversation." He tilted his head slightly. "You can't deny that it's true that you texted your employee at 2:00 am, can you, Mr. Samson? It doesn't matter how many times you tell me it's not urgent. Can an employee really pretend not to see any of his boss' texts?" Eddie's answers sounded too well-prepared. "Who taught you to say those words?" He started looking a little shifty. "No one. Those are my words." "An influencer called Workers' Alliance with three million followers shared your post. Do you know that influencer?" "No, I don't. Anyone can share a post online." I stopped asking questions and said, "You can go back to work." Eddie walked out but suddenly stopped at the door. "I'll have to remind you, Mr. Samson, that everyone online is on my side. If you take any action on me, it will only blow things up even bigger." He closed the door behind him, and Jenny dashed in from the conference room next door, trembling with anger. "That arrogant jerk! Mr. Samson, you should…" "Let him be for now." "Why?" "Because he's right. Any action taken on him will only be seen as revenge on my part." I returned to my computer and saw a new email in my inbox. It was a second email from Joe. [Mr. Samson, I noticed that your company has a management issue when it comes to dealing with your employees, and there has been talk about major clients reevaluating their business relationship with your company. [As an investor who is considering funding your company, we would like to assess this further. Please keep in touch.] I read the email three times. Joe and I had met twice, and he was a calm and collected man who always got straight to the point. Sending me that email was his way of informing me that the decision to invest in the company depended on how I managed the situation. At 2:00 pm, an even bigger problem occurred. The representative of our biggest client, Saul Corman, called me. "Mr. Samson, I saw the news about your company. It's not that I don't trust you, but our company has the policy of assessing our vendors' reputation. Now that your company is trending negatively online, we need to postpone signing the contract until all of this blows over." "Mr. Corman…" "Please don't make things difficult for me, Mr. Samson. I can't change the decision of my superiors." He hung up after that. The contract was worth ten million, and it was the company's core revenue for this quarter. I sat in my office to stare outside the window until it turned dark. At 5:00 pm sharp, the electricity and the internet were cut off, and I could hear the noise of shuffling footsteps and complaints coming from the corridor. Some employees did not manage to save their code in time, while others had their emails deleted while they were still drafting them. "Mr. Samson, Mr. Jenkins called a few people to the pantry for a small meeting." "What are they planning to discuss?" "He said that it's just as well that things blew up this way, so that you can improve how you manage the company." I laughed. "What are you laughing about, Mr. Samson?" "I'm laughing because he's forgetting something." "What is it?" "That he's just an employee." Chapter 4 "Everyone, I know that all of you are still trying to get used to the new policy." I called all team leaders to the meeting room on the afternoon of the third day. "I asked everyone here today to inform you of two things. "One, from next Monday onward, the attendance system will be formally linked to performance evaluations. Anyone late more than three times will have their performance rating downgraded a level." Jack's mouth went agape, but he said nothing. "Second—" This time, Charlie interrupted me, "Mr. Samson, may I just say that maybe we should be a little flexible about this? How about giving everyone a ten-minute grace period? Most of us live a distance from the office, and if there were any emergencies on the way here…" "Mr. Jenkins, you objected the loudest when we implemented the flexible hours policy. Yet now, you're the one asking for a grace period and blurring the lines of office hours." The meeting room turned silent for a few seconds. "It was different before…" "Did you manage to fulfill the standard monthly working hours the last time?" Charlie remained silent, and his fingers kept drumming the table. "Second, Eddie Lundly's labor hours issue has been handed to Legal Affairs to handle. He has posted misleading information on his social media and given a false account of the truth, causing the company major damages. "It has affected the company's reputation, which caused a direct revenue loss to the company. Legal Affairs is now compiling required evidence and will be issuing a lawyer's letter to him soon." Mike looked up and exchanged a look with Charlie. "Mr. Samson, isn't this a little over the top? Eddie is just a fresh grad, and he was just being impulsive…" "When your mother was admitted to the hospital, I permitted you to be in the office for only half a day without deducting your salary. You've benefited the most from the flexible hours policy, Mike, but in your post online, you claimed that many of your colleagues were complaining about this privately, and no one dared to voice it to the company. "May I ask who was unhappy with this policy? Can I have a name, Mike?" His face turned red. "I… I didn't think much of it when I wrote the post." "When you wrote it, all you were thinking about was the online traction you would gain. Your little post now has 20,000 shares, and the angry comments from it are all directed at me. Who do you think benefited from the angry comments? "Was it you? Did it help pay for your mother's hospital bills? Or did it help Eddie Lundly, whose hours last month only hit 60% of the standard hours?" Mike lowered his head. When Charlie saw this, he stopped drumming the table. "Mr. Samson, there is no need to create a mountain out of a molehill over a few words posted online." "Mr. Jenkins, have you replied to any of your superiors' texts at midnight? Did you receive any texts from me in the middle of the night? Please take a screenshot to show it to me." Charlie's mouth twitched. "I was just stating a general…" "A general what? What is it that requires you to 'teach' others a lesson?" No one else dared say another word in the meeting room. "That's all for today. From tomorrow onward, please conduct the new policy with the strictest standard possible. No grace period will be granted, and there will be no review of any special cases. Meeting adjourned." Everyone left after that, and I stayed five minutes longer in the meeting room. Jenny entered with a printed document in her hand. "Mr. Samson, another email has arrived from Mr. Cross." [Mr. Samson, my team and I have conducted a preliminary assessment of the current issue faced by your company. To be honest, based on your current company crisis and the internal reaction of your team, it has given our management ample concern about your team cohesion and your management team's ability to withstand pressure. [We will be reevaluating the investment risk on your company and have decided to base the outcome on the actions taken by your company in the next two weeks.] Jenny glanced at my expression as she asked cautiously, "Mr. Samson, how important is Mr. Cross' investment for our company?" "Without his investment, the company will have to let go of 50% of our workforce." Jenny took a sharp breath and folded the printed email to keep in her pocket. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Eddie. It was a screenshot of the latest post on his social media. [I just found out that I have been issued a lawyer's letter. The capitalist has finally torn off his mask. You can always find a pretext to find fault in someone. I have rights even if I'm just an employee.] At the end of the screenshot, he texted: [Afraid yet?] Jenny was trembling with anger when she saw the text. "That little jerk is really something…" "He's not your average employee." I put my phone into my pocket. "He thinks that he has the right to go head-to-head with me because he's earned the sympathy of hundreds and thousands of people." "What do you plan to do?" I pulled open the meeting room door. "We should let this storm get bigger. Let him have his fun for now."