Employee Who Left on Time to See Family Branded ‘Flight Risk’ by HR
Jakarta employee clocks out at 5PM. HR suspects disloyalty, convenes emergency meeting to discuss signs of “non-compliance.”
JAKARTA — A HR alert was triggered this week at a mid-sized tech consultancy in South Jakarta after junior analyst Bimo Arya left the office exactly at 5:00 p.m. without so much as a fabricated excuse, fake phone call, or “urgent dentist appointment” text.
Eyewitnesses say Bimo, 27, calmly shut his laptop, gathered his things, and said “Bye, guys,” before walking toward the elevator. One colleague attempted to stall him with a casual “Hey, quick question?” but Bimo smiled and responded, “Sorry, I’ve got dinner with my family.”
An emergency after-hours Zoom was convened among middle management.
“We needed to understand what could’ve led to this,” said Head of Operations Angga Prabowo. “No one leaves on time. Not unless they’re going through a crisis, or considering leaving the company.”
HR wasted no time, placing Bimo on the internal Flight Risk Watchlist, right between someone who recently changed their LinkedIn headline to “Open to Opportunities” and a guy who dared ask about the company’s overtime policy.
In a prepared statement, the company reaffirmed its “ongoing commitment to flexible work culture,” clarifying that employees are “free to work whichever 14 hours of the day they choose” and are welcome to rest “anytime between midnight and 5:00 a.m.”
“Our people are our greatest asset,” said the CEO, moments before forwarding a Sunday evening email titled URGENT: Monday Prep Needed ASAP.
Insiders say the company has long fostered a culture of “dedication,” defined internally as a willingness to reschedule personal lives around impromptu 8:00 p.m. “alignment syncs.” Those who fail to match this “high-performance mindset” are quietly flagged for lacking the DNA of hustle.
“The moment someone stops voluntarily sacrificing their personal time for corporate KPIs,” said one HR staffer, “you have to wonder:”
To prevent further breaches of loyalty, the HR department has rolled out a new initiative called “Loyalty Audits”, which includes random calendar inspections, emotional tone analysis of email sign-offs, and a patented red flag system for employees who ever use the words “boundaries,” “burnout,” or “plans after work.”
Other warning signs include:
Having unread emails after 7:00 p.m.
Turning off Teams notifications during dinner.
Not pretending to care about quarterly OKRs in every single meeting.
Bimo’s manager has reportedly scheduled a “check-in” to explore his “long-term alignment with the company vision.”
For his part, Bimo remains calm. “I just wanted to eat with my family and beat the traffic,” he said, before pausing. “But yeah… I guess I’ll update my CV just in case.”
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