A Malaysian employer admitted that he once grew frustrated with an employee who would leave the office at exactly 5.30pm every day.
To him, the employee appeared overly particular about working hours and unwilling to stay back even when others were still busy.
However, he later discovered that there was a heartbreaking reason behind the employee’s routine.
Would leave at exactly 5.30pm every day
Reported by mStar, the staff member would pack up his laptop and leave as soon as the clock hit 5.30pm.
It did not seem to matter if his colleagues were still working or if his boss was still in the office.
“Once it was 5.30pm, he would just say, ‘Okay guys, I’m heading home,’” the employer recalled.
Initially, he did not think much of it.
Over time, however, he started to feel annoyed, especially whenever urgent tasks came in shortly before the end of the working day.
He said that if he assigned the employee something at around 5.20pm, the employee would immediately ask whether it had to be completed that same day.
Boss told him not to be too calculative about time
At one point, the employer decided to speak to him directly.
He advised the employee that if he wanted to progress in his career, he should not be too calculative about his working hours.
The employee simply replied, “Okay, boss.”
Soon, his habit of leaving at 5.30pm became a running joke among his colleagues.
Whenever it was around 5.25pm, some would tease him that he only had five minutes left before he “disappeared”.
The employee never got angry and would simply smile along.
But at 5.30pm, he would still leave.
His father had been bedridden for two years
Everything changed when the employee suddenly did not turn up for work one day.
The Human Resources department later informed the employer that the employee’s father had passed away that morning.
It was then that the employer learnt the real reason the man had been leaving work on time every day.
His father had suffered a stroke and had been bedridden for two years.
His mother was also elderly, which meant much of the responsibility of caring for his father fell on him.
Every morning before work, the employee would bathe his father, change his diapers and prepare his medication.
A neighbour would help watch over his father during the day, but could only do so until 6pm.
That was why the employee needed to leave the office at 5.30pm.
What looked like a lack of commitment was something else entirely
The revelation left a deep impression on the employer.
What he and the rest of the office had viewed as the employee being too eager to leave work was actually his way of making sure he could return home to care for his father.
Those hours after work also turned out to be some of the final moments he had with him.
Reflecting on the incident, the employer said workplaces can sometimes be too quick to judge employees based only on what happens in the office.
“If an employee doesn’t stay back, we say they’re not committed. If they’re quiet, we say they’re not proactive. If they don’t join gatherings after work, we say they don’t know how to bond,” he said.
He added that when an employee insists on leaving on time, some may also assume that they lack ownership over their work.
But the truth is, we only see 10 per cent of their lives. The remaining 90 per cent is a story we create ourselves in our heads.”
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