'Typical corporate': CEO boasts about denying 2-day wedding leave to employee, gets schooled on social media

In 2024, many professionals are letting go of "hustle-culture" and are leaning towards prioritising their health and personal life. Work-life balance is being talked about a lot and people are quick to label working culture of a company as toxic if something doesn't sit right with them. Something similar happened with a British CEO, who denied her employee's two-day wedding leave and put up a post about it on social media. Tickner, who heads a marketing company, posted on Threads about her decision, but instead of gaining support, she found herself in the middle of a social media storm.

CEO's post goes viral

Tickner’s post, which has since gone viral with over 3 million views, led to accusations of creating a toxic workplace and ‘rage baiting’—posting controversial content to provoke strong reactions. She explained that her employee had already taken 2.5 weeks off and had failed to train someone to cover for them during their wedding, leaving the team with two crucial projects to manage.

In her post, Tickner said she had asked the employee to “find a replacement” and train them on their daily tasks before taking any further leave. She also threw in a confusing statement: “With our unlimited time off policy, don’t ask next time!” leaving readers scratching their heads over the true nature of her company’s leave policy.

Unlimited leave, or not?

Tickner attempted to clarify her company’s Flexible Time Off policy, which she claimed allows employees to set their own work hours, work from anywhere, and take time off when they choose. However, this policy seemed at odds with her denial of the wedding leave, leading to further criticism.

Under this supposedly flexible system, Tickner explained, “A-players don’t respect slackers,” implying that those who take too much time off lose respect within the team. However, her statements only deepened the confusion, as people struggled to reconcile the concept of ‘unlimited time off’ with her actions.

"Typical Corporate," says internet

It didn’t take long for social media users to pick apart her logic. Many pointed out the contradiction in her demanding the employee train a replacement while boasting about the simplicity of her team’s processes. Tickner’s attempts to defend herself—by claiming that most tasks could wait until the employee returned—did little to calm the backlash.

One user said, “That’s right, don’t ask next time! She should just tell you that she needs the two days off no matter what. She should tell you next time, not ask. And isn’t finding a replacement your responsibility? Typical corporate."

Another user commented that it is the manager's job to ensure that people are able to take their time off, "Well… what if everyone in the team declines to cover for them? Now my “unlimited PTO” is suddenly dependent on whether a colleague is willing to cover for me, which is a terrible idea, unless you have a reasonable, realistic system that incentivizes folks to cover for someone else. In my team - although we don’t have unlimited PTO and people are provided 26 days of PTO (excl. sick leave) - it’s the managers job to make sure people are able to take their time off," they wrote.

There are many more reactions on the post and people are calling out the CEO continuously for her posts.