Hyderabad techie brags about not taking sick leave with ‘smart' hack. Why are netizens calling it a 'weird flex'?

Time of India

2 days ago

A Hyderabad techie's LinkedIn post claiming he saved five hours by leaving work early at the first sign of fever went viral—just not in the way he intended. After being reposted on Reddit, netizens slammed the so-called 'sick leave hack,' calling it a promotion of toxic hustle culture and questioning the logic behind returning to work while still contagious.
A Hyderabad techie's viral LinkedIn post about saving five hours by leaving work early before falling sick has sparked backlash online. Shared on Reddit, the post drew criticism for promoting toxic hustle culture and returning to work while possibly contagious. (Representational Image: iStock)
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In a world where work-life balance is already stretched thin, a Hyderabad-based techie's self-proclaimed 'smart' strategy to save time while battling illness has sparked online outrage. What began as a reflective post on LinkedIn quickly snowballed into a public lesson on workplace health and common sense after being reshared on Reddit — with the internet mercilessly calling him out for what many perceived as promoting toxic work habits In his now-viral LinkedIn post, the employee boasted about heading home from work an hour early at the onset of a fever. 'Saved 5 hours just by acting smart,' he wrote, explaining how that slight adjustment supposedly helped him avoid taking an entire sick day. 'That night? Full-blown fever. But because I gave myself that buffer, I rested for 10–11 hours straight, and guess what? Next morning, I was back at work just 2 hours later instead of wasting an entire sick day.'He concluded with a motivational tone, urging readers to 'learn to listen to your body' and take 'preventive action' rather than resorting to reactive recovery. 'Time is precious. Your health is too,' he wrote, believing he had stumbled upon a practical life hack.But the internet wasn't impressed.The post was picked up by Reddit where users were quick to highlight what they saw as flawed reasoning. One of the top comments read, 'Dude is still contagious and should have stayed home. Agree?' Another pointed out the irony: 'And he spent all that time gained by writing this tripe.'Critics questioned the logic of returning to work while still recovering from an infection, especially in shared office spaces where the risk of spreading illness is high. One user even likened the post to a 'weird flex,' pointing out that 'this kind of math only makes sense if you're an hourly employee.'Others were more nuanced. One Redditor acknowledged, 'Honestly, I'm on board with the concept. He's advocating leaving work early if you think you're starting to feel bad instead of staying and working through it.' But this support was quickly overshadowed by comments pointing out how workplace expectations should not reward employees for avoiding rest during illness.The backlash reflects a growing frustration with the glorification of overwork in the tech industry. What the employee may have seen as a clever life hack was seen by many as another example of glorified grind culture—one where workers pride themselves on minimizing rest, even at the cost of their health or that of their colleagues.While his post may have been well-intentioned, it instead reignited a conversation about workplace boundaries, self-care, and the need to truly prioritize health over productivity.As one commenter aptly summarized the sentiment: 'Not exactly the 4D chess move he thinks it is.'