Getting a call that your company needs you on your day off can be deeply annoying. Setting aside the realization that, without you, an entire organization grinds to a halt, time off should be basically seen as sacred.
So one employee, after getting multiple texts and a call decided to clock in andmake the most of itwhen told that the company urgently needed his help. Malicious compliance ensued, allowing OP to turn just minutes of work into nearly an entire extra day of paid leave. Netizens discussed this bit of MC and the benefits of being a union member. We got in touch with Canadutchian, who wrote the story, to learn more.
Working on a day off sounds like a proposition straight from hell
Image credits:Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)
But one employee decided to make the most of it when their boss needed them to fix a phone system
Image credits:Jack Sparrow (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Canadutchian
Employees organizing and demanding better conditions is often a good thing
Image credits:Sora Shimazaki (not the actual photo)
“If you are not in a union and are considering the benefits, contact any local union of your choice. Even if they do not specialize in your profession or industry, they will gladly direct you to the right resources. A chat with a union costs nothing but time, and you do not have to become unionized if you don’t want to. But learn about your rights, and exercise them. We as workers need their wages to live, but they as bosses need our labor to make their profits. If we all stand up together, they cannot stop us!”
OP, as a resident of Canada, is right to recommend union membership to anyone who can get it. Interestingly, union membership in Canada hasbeen in steady declineover the last half-century and now sits around 28.7%. While most workers can unionize, the expansion of independent contractors hasreduced union presencein the workforce. Independent contractors are not actually able to unionize in Canada.
Research suggests that unionization helps almost everyone
Image credits:Kindel Media (not the actual photo)
OP’s story demonstrates, in more than one way, why unionization is a good idea for most workers. First and foremost, the extra days off they get every single month. Secondly, the pretty generous overtime benefits, which were very likely achieved through union pressure. Even if this company implemented this policy independently, it likely only did it to match the norms in similar organizations.
This, in many ways, is one of the main benefits of unionization. By forcing just a few companies to improve conditions, they create a spillover effect across entire industries. After all, if new workers are looking for what company to join, they will often give preference to the one with the best conditions. So all businesses are forced to “escalate” their benefits to stay ahead, to the advantage of workers.
Surprising almost no one, unionization is widely associated withincreased employee retention. Interestingly, this still holds even in companies where workers express unhappiness with their jobs. Since a union allows workers to actually raise their concerns and negotiate, employees actually have an incentive to not quit and simply work something out with management.
While some argue that unionization impedes productivity, it’s worth asking if productivity is actually worth anything, if it comes at the expense of workers’ mental and physical health. This argument doesn’t necessarily correlate to reality either.In the US, states with higher union membership have better minimum wages, higher median annual income, and better unemployment insurance.
In life, as in business, you get what you pay for, so it seems only rational that better-paid employees will do better work.The aforementioned studyalso found that areas with high union membership benefited from better revenues for the government and overall lower government spending, as companies would foot much of the bill for social safety nets.
Workers should always know their rights and take advantage of them
Image credits:Edmond Dantès (not the actual photo)
So, while OP’s tale only loosely fits the concept of “malicious compliance,” it still serves as a great reminder of why it’s vital for workers to know their rights and to take advantage of all the laws, regulations, and rules that exist for their benefit. Anyone who has been actually forced to work (for more than 10 minutes) on a “day off” would no doubt agree.
OP chatted with some readers and shared some extra details
People loved OP’s malicious compliance and shared their own stories
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