A woman in India has claimed that her company's chief executive officer (CEO) sent her a personal WhatsApp message after she left the office 10 minutes before the end of her working day.
The message, which later went viral on social media, has sparked a fresh debate about workplace monitoring and management practices. The woman shared her experience on the Reddit forum under the title, 'My CEO Texted Me for Leaving 10 Minutes Early'.
She said the incident happened shortly after she began her permanent job and made her realise that corporate life was far more difficult than she had expected.
According to her post, she left the office at 5:43pm, around 10 minutes before the end of her shift. Soon afterwards, she received a WhatsApp message from the CEO asking what time she had left the office. She replied that she had departed at 5:43pm.
The employee also claimed that the company took 17 days to reimburse office expenses that she had paid herself, despite repeated reminders.
She claimed that managers often took breaks lasting up to one hour, while other employees regularly left their desks for about 30 minutes without any objection.
By contrast, she said she rarely took proper breaks and was questioned immediately after leaving the office 10 minutes early for the first time.
Terming herself as a member of Generation Z, she wrote that the experience had shown her that corporate life was much tougher than she had imagined.
The woman also claimed that her boss pressured her to recruit an unpaid social media intern.
She said she was told either to recruit an unpaid intern or produce all of the company's social media reels herself.
She added that she works in the company's human resources (HR) department.
After the post appeared, Reddit users also shared their own experiences.
Many of the users have said that the companies that pay more attention to employees' arrival and departure times than to their performance often create an unhealthy working environment.
Several users advised the woman to gain some experience before looking for better career opportunities.
Others shared similar experiences at start-up companies, including complaints about long commutes, extended working hours and being given extra responsibilities.
Some of the users said that a CEO sending a direct WhatsApp message after an employee left just 10 minutes early reflected excessive monitoring rather than effective leadership.
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