’Don’t ask next time’: CEO rejects 2-day leave request for marriage, explanation goes viral

A social media post by London-based CEO has sparked controversy with her post on Threads wherein she claimed that denied two days of leave to an employee after getting married. The CEO of Scale Systems took to threads and was slammed for her post, however, she later slammed people for not reading her full post and with that clarified her stance.

Here's what happened

Lauren Tickner took to Threads and wrote, “I denied my employee’s request for 2 days off work. Sure, they're about to get married, but: - They’ve had 2.5 weeks off already; they haven't trained a replacement; we have 2 critical projects to complete. So I told them...”

She added, “Find a replacement. Train them on your daily to-dos. With our unlimited time off policy, don't ask next time!”

Netizens began to criticise her for denying leave and the expectation to find a replacement. Many felt her stance was unreasonable, leading to a debate about workplace policies.

Here's what people commented

One user wrote, “As a Manager, I would never. This is condescending and manipulating. “Find your replacement?” Wtf kind of response is that? There’s no way you don’t have a really high turnover. So, if they have to do all of that, what do YOU do? Seems like you just sit behind a desk and push a pen”

Another said, “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 lunatic.”

“This is giving “find and train someone to do your work so when we fire you we already have a replacement”

Here's the real truth

In her next post, she spoke about “flexible time off" which she explained saying, “It's called Flexible Time Off. (The opposite of micromanagement & outdated policies). Your employees set their own hours; They work where they want; They take days off when they choose.”

While sharing the biggest benefit of flexible time off, she said, “The biggest benefit? A-players don't respect slackers. Anyone taking too much time off loses status. Flexible Time Off is a policy that creates trusting teams. What's your approach to unlimited time off?”

In her post, Lauren clarified her stance on finding a replacement, stating, “When I say “find a replacement and train them on your daily to dos” I literally meant: show them your checklist and have them follow it. Everything is documented. Seeing as there’s so much shock about my statement, it’s showing me how many companies need serious process upgrades!”

She added, “We have processes that anyone on the team can follow to get the job done. So they’d just ping someone and say “hey could you do XYZ for me today? It’s very simple and efficient. Most tasks don’t need to urgently be done daily tho, so it can wait til they’re back from their day(s) away!”

The user engagement on her post continued and drew mixed reactions from people. Some found her explanation confusing, while others criticised users for judging without reading it completely. Some even praised her policies, while others felt her message was clickbait intended to provoke reactions.

“The way you’ve explained it here does make sense, however in your original post you said twice that training a replacement was required. That’s where my confusion came from”

Another user added, “It’s staggering how many people didn’t read your post but jumped right to shaming you. Bravo on great workplace strategy!”

“Love how I was hooked on this thinking OMG how could she? Then I read everything (Important to do so all the time!!) love this policy. Must be a dream to work at your company!”

Some other said, “At least you can make a note of those shaming you for not paying attention to detail in case you get any job applications from them in future”

One user criticised and said, “Well you pretty much clickbaited your point which sucks. Or was that heavily artistic slow burn French new wave cinema style ?”