COMPANY BANS EMPLOYEES FROM EATING OUTSIDE, BECAUSE NEED THEM NEARBY TO “DISCUSS ISSUES”

Share your company’s most ridiculous “rules” or “SOPs”…

I will go first.

The most ridiculous made-up “SOP” my company enforced is controlling staff’s lunchbreak. This takes place in a school-based after-school care center.

The Manager stipulates that lunchtime is only 30 minutes but “out of goodwill”, she would give an extra 15 minutes.

She is also unhappy and sulky if staff were to leave the office slightly earlier (5-10 minutes) to have lunchbreak.

Furthermore, she does not allow staff to dine out of school premises, because school teachers would somehow look for staff to discuss issues.

Netizens’ comments

1. Ex company. If you want to request new pens for your desk, you have to return the old pens that have ran out of ink. Want a new box of stapler bullets? Submit your empty box first. Everyone just went screw it and brought their own stationeries. And of course didn’t stay long.
2. Worked in startup and corporate setup before, here’s some: -cannot look occasionally at the keyboard when typing notes during Zoom meetings because boss requires straight face on the screen -must not laugh nor smile when something funny arises because it’s “unprofessional” -we must follow the “eating time” of the boss (lke the Queen), can only eat when she’s eating and must be finished also when she’s done
3. Ex indonesian mnc company, must arrive office on time, but cannot leave on time, must be at least 10 minutes after 6 before you can leave office. Eating alone at lunch they say u not team player, must assign someone eat with you Office auntie gossip about you = straight to HR questioning
4. Here’s a few that I have seen:
   -Employees must be in the office before the bosses and can only leave 2 hours after the bosses leave
   -Employees must sign out for office stationery and the HOD can tell us that each person only needs one pen and that it’s to cut costs so that they can pay our bonuses
   -“Talking back” to the boss is grounds for dismissal, but the boss can yell and treat you like shit (this was embedded into the employee handbook as well)
   -Copy and Paste function cannot be used because manual 4 eye check and input processes is more accurate and can catch “mistakes” better
   -Automation is not allowed because it goes against risk controls and manual processing is more accurate
   -To fight fraud, each and every email correspondence must be printed and archived
   -Employees cannot WFH but the bosses and their favored ones all can WFH
   -Bosses tells a staff member to pay for team dinners/team events first and submit the claims for approval, only to reject the claims and tell the staff to split among themselves because the claims policy doesn’t allow team events