Boss Says 'Now Is A Good Time' To Tell Worker His Role Is Not Remote 3 Months After Recruiting Him For A Work From Home Position
The boss hired him on false promises.
TikTok Career coach Braxton Wood shares “work stories and successes” on his TikTok account and told one story of a particularly “bad boss” who said that their employee could work from home, only to go back on that promise after three months. Wood titled the TikTok, "Telling Off Your Unreasonable Boss #28."
In a series of screenshots from a text message conversation, Wood showed just how the boss in question revealed the news that the role the employee was recruited for wasn’t actually remote.
In a text conversation, the boss said his worker could not work from home in his remote role.
The employee confronted their boss on the subject, saying, “when you asked me to come work on your team, I told you it only made sense for me if I was able to work from home,” to which the boss replied, “yes, I know.”
The employee went on to say that while he had initially agreed to come into the office for one month, at the boss’s request, “just to get accustomed to the job.”
“But now it’s been three months, and I’m still not permitted to work virtually, and I’m being told it’s because of performance. Yet I’ve asked how my performance needs to improve and I don’t get a straight answer.”
The boss then asked, “Are you unhappy in this role?”
“I’m really confused,” stated the employee. “On top of the promise to work from home, I was told the schedule is flexible, and it’s anything but. I’m here at 5.30 AM and I don’t leave until 9.30 Pm half the time.”
“I’ve spent three months trusting your word and I’m wondering when I’ll receive what I was promised.”
‘Well, it looks like now is as good a time as any to tell you that this is not a remote role,’ stated the boss.
When asked when they came to that decision, the boss replied, “It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry. But working from home is not an option.”
“It does matter,” replied the employee. “You do realize that I let you poach me from my previous role on those promises, right? So did you think that I was just going to roll over and take it?”
The boss did not respond to the question asked.
According to the US Census Bureau, the number of people who worked from home tripled between 2019 and 2021. This shift was due initially to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, as workers have grown accustomed to that particular change, 68% of workers in the US would prefer to work from home permanently. What’s more, statistics show that at least 23% of US workers would take a 10% pay cut in order to permanently work in a remote position.
Eventually, the boss did reply to the employee, stating, “You don’t belong in this role. But I’m happy to keep you employed here.”
“This is unbelievable,” said the employee. “You came to me to fill this role. And I took the job on certain conditions. And you seem perfectly fine with lying to me and stringing me along.”
“Sounds like you know where you stand,” the boss answered. “Let me know if [and] when you decide to exit this role.” Three days later, the employee gave their two weeks' notice.
“What?” the boss responded. “I thought we just talked about you telling me when you were going to leave.”
“This is me telling you, I don’t understand why you’re surprised,” stated the employee.
One person commented that “it’s amazing how quickly they go from, ‘you’re perfect for us’ to devaluation when you hold them to the previously agreed upon parameters.”
Many people in the comments stated that the employee should have gotten the conditions of the position in writing, to which Wood replied, “Agree. Lesson learned.” Wood also went to the comments to offer updates on the situation, stating that the “employee moved on to make $25K more at the next job and was able to work remotely.”
As American expectations of work-life balance continue to shift, it’s not uncommon for people to make their job decisions based on the flexibility of their schedule, as this worker ultimately decided to do.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.