When the coronavirus first started spreading rapidly, many companies allowed their employees to work from home to lower the chances of getting infected.
However, some employees decided to abuse this privilege by going hiking when they should have been working at home.
According to SCMP, a group of young management trainees at Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong were caught going hiking instead of working from home after posting photos online.
Source: EFC
One of the photos showed them in jacket and jeans at the Red Incense Burner Summit of Braemar Hill, with the sun setting in the background.
The photo was posted on an Instagram story with the words “best WFH (work from home) activity”.
Source: SCMP
Another photo was captioned “people in the wild”.
When the post went viral on Monday (10th February), the bank management was not amused, saying that the act was “not excusable”.
However, they also noted that the employees were new and might not be familiar with the work-from-home arrangement.
“We are aware that there have been online discussions relating to the matter. We view the matter with grave seriousness,” a spokesman said.
“The bank has an established mechanism to deal with such incidents and we will continue to strictly follow up on the matter.”
Source: SCMP
Alexa Chow, recruitment consultant, said the incident exposed the inadequacy of monitoring by bank management.
“The supervisors should have given those working from home some specific assignments and asked them to report back on what they have been doing while at home,” she said.
“Not many people in the banking sector would have tried working from home before. So, proper guidelines from supervisors are needed.”
“That said, the employees should bear the full responsibility. The essence of working from home is still working, albeit not in office.”
“The trainees have demonstrated they lack discipline and that they may not be suitable for a managerial job. In some companies, this can result in serious disciplinary action.”
Well, maybe private your account next time?
But in all seriousness, the working-from-home policy should not be abused as your bosses have entrusted you with this privilege.
Also read: Cruise Ship With NO Infected Passengers Stranded, Rejected From Docking in 4 Countries
