Aussie reveals why companies saying they offer flexible working hours is a ‘red flag’

An Australian woman who quit her 9-5 job to become a digital nomad has warned job seekers to be wary of employers offering flexible working hours.

Cassie, 31, recalled a conversation she had with another WFH employee about “boomer bosses” holding back younger workers in a TikTok uploaded on September 30.

The two talked about how “flexible hours” typically meant giving employees the choice of starting at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.

Cassie quit her office job in Queensland after discovering she was being undervalued when her manager wouldn’t let her work from home.

Flexible working arrangements and remote work have surged in popularity during the coronavirus lockdowns, with many employees forced to work remotely.

Cassie, who now works as a virtual assistant, told her followers that jobs that promote flexible options are “red flags” that don’t provide true work-life balance.

In the final days of her office job, her boss asked Cassie to stay for a final assignment, which she wanted to complete remotely.

When the boss told her it had to be done from the office, Cassie quit on the spot and started traveling the world while working from her laptop.

Cassie said the conversation with the other telecommuter made her realize that boomer bosses are holding young workers back.

“It just made me think how out of touch these Boomer bosses are. They are so against you working from your laptop,” she said.

“We live in such a digital world and it’s so easy to be able to work from anywhere, but they’re just so against it.”

When her former boss told her that the “company won’t let her” do WFH, Cassie said it was a turning point in her relationship with her job.

‘You’re the one who needs my help. I’m not going to change my plans and stay here longer to get to the office. If you don’t give me the flexibility to be able to work from my laptop, then bye,” she said.

She learned that from her on the way out too less experienced colleagues were paid more than her, and so were they told news.com was the ‘last straw’.

Cassie now performs her work duties from the comfort of Thailand, where she works remotely all day.

The Queenslander had a conversation with another remote worker about flexible working and they agreed that this usually means employees have the choice of starting at 8am or 9am.

Cassie now works remotely after quitting her old office job when her boomer boss refused to let her work from home (pictured)

The self-employed entrepreneur, who also traveled to Singapore, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia this year, said he never wanted to return to a 9-5 job.

“Depending on where I’m traveling and what I have to do, I’ll get some work done in the morning or evening so I can get outside and enjoy the best part of the day,” she told the publication.

A company executive commented on Cassie’s video and they were among many who agreed.

‘I tell my team to work wherever they want, whenever they want. If an employer is not like this, I would encourage everyone to find a new one,” one employer wrote.

But several workers warned that it’s not always boomer bosses who limit an employee’s right to a flexible plan.

“My boss isn’t a boomer, he’s generation Y, just like me, and he’s exactly like that,” one woman commented.

“I have to make an offering to the gods and plan it a month in advance for one WFH day.”

A second said: “I had a fellow millennial boss who was exactly the same as a boomer boss.

A third wrote: ‘Bosses do that to feel like they still have a purpose for their work.’