Employee Forced Daily Office Check-In Cycles 60+ Miles
The Original Post
I worked for my local council doing work within the catchment zone of a river. The council office is not near where my work is and I only occasionally needed to go in, which was a lovely bike journey, but mainly worked remotely. Importantly when applying for my job I was told I would not be able to access work vans for the role and the role was remote with occasional days in the office. It’s in my contract that I cannot access work vans but also there was nothing stating that I needed my own vehicle for work.
There was a change in the council and those in charge are ideologically against work from home as everyone is better in the office. I was informed I would need to check in at the main office everyday. I arranged a meeting and emailed to explain my role and that most of my work wasn’t near the office, that I could only do what they wanted if I had a van but didn’t think one was available. Meeting was turned down and the policy stated that all staff must start their shift in their base office.
This was during summer and so I took the opportunity to do what I was told. Office was a lovely 16 miles bike ride from my home/area of work and I would usually take about an hour and 15 to do it. So head into the office, find a desk and do the morning admin. Then back on my bike and back on the road to a site, would do an hour or so of work and have lunch and work for an hour or so more before cycling back to the office and then turning around.
I was pretty fit but the 60+ miles a day was hard at first but it didn’t take too long to get comfy with it (flatish). Did take the bus a few times but due to locations requires 2 buses each way (one west that took an hour because it went to every little village on the way, then change and a quicker bus directly north) but that was slower than the bike ride.
Took a couple months but eventually I got asked why I was completing so little work, a lot of accusations were thrown around but based on my contract, communication where I pointed everything out and direct orders from the top of the organization being followed I was found to have simply done what I was asked and then quietly told I could consider my base to be the sites I worked out.
Was great being paid to cycle around in the summer
What Reddit Said
Redditors absolutely loved this perfectly executed malicious compliance. Most praised OP for following orders to the letter while exposing the absurdity of the new policy. However, many were impressed that OP actually got fit from cycling 60+ miles daily during the ordeal.
The community particularly enjoyed how management tried to blame OP for low productivity. In fact, commenters noted this was a textbook example of new leadership making changes without understanding the actual work requirements.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: this employee forced daily office check-in situation was handled brilliantly. Management learned the hard way that micromanaging remote workers backfires spectacularly. This is a perfect example of malicious compliance where following ridiculous rules exposed their flaws completely.
Original post from r/MaliciousCompliance (1,179 upvotes, 41 comments)