A Reddit post by an employee in the Netherlands has gone viral after he claimed that his American manager tried to formally reprimand him for not working beyond office hours and for logging off at 5 pm.
In the post, titled “My American manager tried to write me up for ‘lack of commitment’ because I leave at 5:00 PM sharp. I work in the Netherlands,” the employee wrote that he works for the Dutch branch of a large US tech company and recently got a new middle manager based in New York. According to him, the manager initially appeared “nice” but soon revealed an obsession with “hustle culture”.
Recalling a one-on-one meeting, the employee said that the manager expressed concern about his dedication to the team. “He listed his grievances quite clearly. He didn't like that my Slack status goes offline at 5:01 PM every single day. He was annoyed that I didn't reply to an email he sent on Saturday morning until Monday at 9:00 AM. And he was especially frustrated that I refused to join a "team bonding" Zoom call that was scheduled for 7 PM my time, which is 1 PM his time,” the OP wrote.
He claimed that the manager warned him that in the company, people were expected to “go the extra mile” and hinted at a Performance Improvement Plan.
{{/usCountry}}He claimed that the manager warned him that in the company, people were expected to “go the extra mile” and hinted at a Performance Improvement Plan.
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The Dutch employee said that he pushed back, telling his manager that in the Netherlands, failing to finish work within office hours signals inefficiency or understaffing, not dedication. He added that he also reminded his manager that his contract was for 40 hours a week, and non-emergency communication after working hours is frowned upon locally.
“He tried to threaten me with a Performance Improvement Plan,” the OP wrote. However, he said that the situation changed after he forwarded the exchange to the company’s Dutch HR representative, who “laughed” at the threat and promised to speak to the manager about local labour laws.
“Since then, he hasn't sent a single email after 5 PM. I honestly feel bad for you guys in the US. The fact that you have to apologize for having a life outside of work is insane to us,” the Redditor concluded.
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Social media reactions
Reacting to the post, one user wrote, “The US is the worst. And they're trying to metastasize their sickness across the world.”
“It constantly amazes me how these companies think their employees have to "go the extra mile" for them, when they never go the extra mile for the employees? Who the hell do they think they are?” commented another.
“This is why I'm so glad to work for a European based company. Making the switch, my work life balance has been amazing,” wrote a third user.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)