'Work 10 minutes extra for every minute you are late': HR's new policy faces a smart retribution from Gen Z employee who found a loophole

Every workplace has its own set of quirky rules. From a timed lunch hour to office timings, there is always one thing about the office rules that employees hate, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly.

The second is more likely when it comes to a Gen Z employee as they are known to not bow down to corporate supremacy and working through rules.A recent viral post is an example. A social media user took to X to share an incident involving a new office attendance policy introduced by HR. According to the post, the company announced that employees would have to work an additional 10 minutes after 5 pm for every minute they arrived late.

The rule was enforced to ensure that employees compensated for delayed start times.However, the policy soon faced challenge from a Gen Z employee arrived at work at 8:05 am instead of the scheduled 8 am start time. As per the social media user, the HR informed the employee that he would need to stay back until 5:50 pm to make up for the five minutes he was late. The employee accepted the decision and completed the additional work without any objections.

The next day, the same employee left the office at 4 pm, much earlier than the usual closing time. When questioned about the same, he reportedly pointed back to the company's own logic. He explained that he had logged in at 7:54 am that day, arriving six minutes before his scheduled start time.Thus, following the same policy, he argued that arriving six minutes early meant he had earned an hour of extra time and could leave early.

Social media reactions

Tales of Gen Z employees rising to challenge bizarre office rules, have always been a thing of interest on social media. Thus, the post generated a lot of buzz online."The Gen Z coworker didn't exploit the policy, he simply applied it consistently. HR forgot that every rule creates a loophole if the math is fair," wrote a user."GenZ said, Yesterday you taxed my lateness. Today I’m cashing out my punctuality," added another."Policies built on punishment instead of trust often create unintended consequences. If an employee is expected to stay 50 extra minutes for arriving 5 minutes late, they can just as reasonably leave 50 minutes early another day after fulfilling that obligation," a user commented."Gen Z should take the HR position now," one quipped.