“Volunteering”

We have always had a fairly flexible way of working. By default you just have to work 7.5 hours and be in the office 10-4. So the majority of people choose a 9-5 or 8-4 day. 

With Coronavirus, we are all working from home, and we have more leeway in order to manage our home situations.

The CEO arranged a call where we could ask questions about the current situation. Rupert, one of the money-grabbing staff members said to him “I appreciate you have allowed people to work fewer hours, but can I take further time out of work to volunteer to help vulnerable people?”.

Basically, he wanted to work shorter work days, but take his full pay. So he ain’t really “volunteering”. It’s more like he will be paid by the company to help the community.

The CEO politely shot him down “No, we need to try and keep the business running”.

Then Rupert does a massive u-turn with his viewpoint and says: “I 100% agree with you, the business must be our top priority and we can’t afford to put our focus elsewhere”. 

The audacity to even ask the question in the first place! But that u-turn to try and “save face”! Amazing.