Boss causes outrage after sending concerning message to employee while on holiday

A boss is copping an epic backlash after a message he sent to an employee while on holidays went viral.

UK workplace expert Ben Askins shared on TikTok a text message from a man named Tom, who had received the message from his unnamed boss while on holidays.

The video posted by Askins has garnered more than 90,000 views so far, and left the expert accusing the boss of “ruining” his employee’s holiday.

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“’Hi Tom, I hope you’re having a great time on holidays. There’s no need to reply right now, but I just wanted to keep you in the loop’,” Askins read, quoting the message.

“We had a visit from the area manager, and he is p***** about our figures. I think we’re going to have some really tough meetings when you’re back.”

The employee expressed their unease in a reply to the text message.

“Hey Dave, I just saw this, and it has got me a little concerned. Shall we have a call?”

The boss replied that he did not want Tom to “worry” without actually answering his request for a phone call.

“It is a real s*** show, he is in a bad mood and I don’t really know how bad it is going to be when you’re back. Again, nothing you and I can do, until you’re back. Just wanted to give you a heads-up, just relax and enjoy your time off.”

Askins said that the “most depressing” thing about the text message exchange was that the boss thought they were doing the right thing by giving his employee the heads-up.

“He’s on holiday,” Askins said.

“All you’ve done is ruin his holiday. It’s not good enough.”

People in the comments weighed in on the text messages, some more sympathetic towards the boss, saying “he may have had good intentions, but that the timing was terrible”.

Others said the message could have been sent the day before the employee returned home so as to not ruin his holiday.

“This is why I didn’t check anything until the day my vacation ended,” another said.

“I want the heads-up, but I don’t want to it too early.”

The video was shared less than a month after Australian workers won the right to disconnect.

Under new workplace reforms, Australian workers now have the right to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours contact from their employer.

Under the changes from August 26, eligible employees will have the right to ignore calls and emails outside their rostered shifts.

This means an employee can refuse to read or respond to contact from an employer or other work-related third party outside work hours, when it is reasonable to do so.