Her Manager Told Her to Keep Her Laptop in the Office. Now, They Couldn’t Reach Her on Microsoft Teams: ‘This is What We Call Malicious Compliance’
Her manager allegedly called her on Microsoft Teams after hours.
Policies in the workplace are set in place to keep the system efficient and prevent abuse. But not all rules help productivity. Melissa (@careerwithmelissa) shared her experience with one policy that prevented her from joining her Microsoft Teams meeting.
“My manager told me I’m not allowed to take home my corporate laptop because they don’t want it damaged during personal use,” Melissa told TikTok. Some workplaces tell their employees to leave their laptops in the office because they deal with cybersecurity. Some devices might also contain undisclosed corporate information. It’s unclear which field Melissa works in, but she complied, saying that she left her laptop in the office.
“Every evening, I leave my laptop at the office, and last week, she tried to reach me with an urgent question after work,” Melissa stated. Her manager tried getting a hold of her after hours, but couldn’t. She continued, “She was surprised I wasn’t on Teams.”
“I reminded her that Teams is only on my work laptop, and my work laptop is exactly where she told me to keep it,” Melissa said. It seems that Melissa is now looking for a new job. Her TikTok caption reads, “Looks like I’ll be on Zenfy.” Although she shared the experience as though it was a personal story, Melissa has also advertised Zenfy, a job portal website, on her TikTok account. She has also shared other stories of herself supposedly finding corporate loopholes to break, with a #Zenfy in the caption.
Nevertheless, the clip went viral on social media, amassing more than a million views. Social media users were also sharing their thoughts on the situation, with several TikTok users agreeing with Melissa’s tactic.
No Microsoft Teams after clocking out
One TikTok user wrote, “This is what we call Malicious Compliance and I [expletive] love this!” Another one even said that if it didn’t involve a life at risk, then the question could wait until Melissa clocks in for work again. Many more commenters were questioning why anybody would even pick up a Microsoft Teams call after hours. After all, nobody wants to do work without being fairly paid. Even servers at a restaurant want to be tipped fairly after waiting on a table for a few hours.
Other workers also started sharing their experiences in Melissa’s comment section. Someone wrote, “I’m the only person on my team that won’t download the work apps to my phone. I told my boss they have to give me a stipend for the use of my personal device.”
Another bold commenter said, “I’m not working once I get home. So either way the question wasn’t getting answered if I didn’t want to answer it.” But it’s not just regular workers who were sharing their two cents. One person, who claimed to be an executive, also talked about the importance of work-life balance.
The supposed executive commented, “I’m an executive for a massive employer. I don’t take my laptop home, nor do I look at my work phone after work hours, I expect the same from my employees. People and their families deserve the right to disconnect from work.” Essentially, it’s important to know when to clock out or drop the job. If a DoorDasher can drop an order after an unsettling encounter, then a Microsoft Teams call could definitely wait another day.
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