No, this CEO did not reject her employee's 2-day leave for wedding. But she did get slammed

CEO Lauren Tickner said employees should always be able to take time off when they want it. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

The CEO of a UK-based company has been facing severe criticism on social media after it appeared that she had denied a couple of days' leave to an employee for their wedding. At a time when employees have been pushing back against corporations, demanding a better work-life balance, Lauren Tickner's post on Threads had the opposite impact on her audience than the one she targetted.

"I denied my employee’s request for 2 days off work," she wrote. "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: find a replacement, train them on your daily to-dos. With our unlimited time off policy, don't ask next time!"

The problem with Tickner's post, however, was that she did not deliver the entire message in a single post. She wrote it in a thread and the first post -- visible to everyone -- was the one where she talks about denying the leave request.

 

Post by @laurentickner

View on Threads

Very few Threads users read beyond the first post and thus assumed that the employee was not granted the time off. CEO Tickner was then subjected to brickbats.

"This happened to me back in 2011 when I got married. I’ll never forgive them. But I took the time off anyway," commented one user. "I live in Europe where we have guaranteed holiday time and where I will never be working in your toxic environment, so I can call you the inhuman monster you are all I like," wrote another.

Interestingly, in separate posts on the same thread, Tickner explained that her company offers flexible time off to employees. It's the "opposite of micromanagement" and "outdated policies," she said. "Your employees set their own hours. They work where they want. They take days off when they choose."

Several users -- who read the entire thread -- supported Tickner for her company's employee-friendly work policies.

"It’s staggering how many people didn’t read your post but jumped right to shaming you. Bravo on great workplace strategy!" wrote a user, while another said, "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!"

A few others, however, accused her of mining engagement on the social media platform and confusing users with her "clickbait" post.

"Did you get the engagement you wanted from this post?" commented a Threads user. "Well you pretty much clickbaited your point which sucks. Or was that heavily artistic slow burn French new wave cinema style?" asked another.