S’pore employee taking ‘overseas leave’ to clear work backlog, netizens say ‘don’t work for free’

Redditors rally to tell Singapore employee not to use leave to clear work backlog

A Singapore-based employee has sparked discussion online after considering applying for overseas leave — without actually travelling — just to clear work.

In a Reddit post on r/askSingapore on 26 March, the Original Poster (OP) said their company differentiates between “overseas leave” and “local leave”.

According to the post, staff on overseas leave are generally not expected to respond to emails due to limited access.

However, those on local leave may still be contacted and are expected to reply if the situation calls for it.

Employee wants uninterrupted time to clear backlog

The OP shared that they were thinking of applying for a week of overseas leave — without actually going overseas.

“I actually have backlog of work to clear so want to take my time to clear it without people contacting me,” they wrote.

The OP also added that they have a significant amount of “accumulated leave” to clear.

Netizens urge OP to reconsider

The post quickly drew a range of responses from fellow Redditors, many of whom advised against using leave to clear work.

A netizen urged the OP not to take leave to catch up on work, suggesting instead that they work on weekends if absolutely necessary.

Another pointed out that doing so would be like “paying the company to do overtime”.

Some advised the OP to block out their calendar or set an out-of-office reply instead, so they can focus during working hours.

Another netizen said the OP needed to apply for overseas leave to “find a new job”.

MS News has reached out to the OP for more information.

Also read: ‘I was not hungry enough’: S’poreans share most ‘out-of-touch’ statements they’ve heard about job market

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