CEO’s Reply Goes Viral After Employee Asks For ‘Late-Night Party Leave’

Often than rarely corporate employees resort to creating fake excuses in order to get a leave. However, there is this one man who took “honesty is the best policy” quite literally.

Apparently, an employee of Unstop texted his CEO in order to get a day’s leave because he was partying late at night somewhere which had not ended till 4 A.M. The CEO of Unstop took to LinkedIn to share the conversation and his actual reaction to the matter.

CEO of Unstop sparked debate on leave policies

Ankit Aggarwal, the founder and CEO of Unstop, as garnered widespread praise on social media and initiated a conversation on leave policies following the viral reaction to an employee’s request for a “late-night party leave.” He took to LinkedIn and shared a screenshot of his interaction with the employee while keeping the individual’s identity confidential.

The screenshot read texts from his employee who wrote as we quote,

“Hi Ankit, good morning. After a long time I want to request you for a late night party leave. I went to a concert and the party is still on. Sorry. I will be in the office on Friday.

I will speak to all the teams in the afternoon.”

Here is how the CEO expressed his views

Emphasizing how openness is important in between teams and how trust is built in this manner the CEO expressed his views on LinkedIn. He wrote as we quote,

“This landed in my WhatsApp today morning. An employee asking for a leave because the party and its after party are still on. This openness is critical within a team so that you can trust your team and they are ensured that you will back them.”

He further added,

“When colleagues feel comfortable being open and honest with each other, it builds a foundation of trust that can lead to better communication, collaboration, and overall success.”

Have a look at the CEO’s Linkedin’s post

Users of LinkedIn were divided on the CEO’s reaction

The comment of users impressed with Ankit’s stance wrote comments that read,

“Awesome! I remember that once my team leader threatened me to return to work for 2 days because one colleague wasn’t present. She called me back to work during my Honeymoon and told me that if I didnt return ,my vacation request was going to be unauthorized even though she knew weeks before that I was going to have my honeymoon. Of course, I didn’t leave my wife and return to job. They gave me a written warning for that. Some managers don’t want their employees happiness. But some thrive with their happiness. Seems like you are one of the thriving ones.”

Another comment read,

“This is what I needed to read today. In my past work experience, there were instances where my team and I were honest and gave our manager the true reasons why we needed leave – it could be a weekend getaway, to attend weddings, or just “we’re mentally exhausted, we need a day off to do nothing.”

Users not impressed with Ankit’s stance went on to say,

“I don’t think you should show everything on internet. It is good to hide humility and compassion sometimes otherwise it’s become a cheap tool for self glorification:)”

Another comment went on like this,

“Is this acceptable when your team depends on you? “Does your employee understand the impact s/he has on the team members? Surprise is a very challenging emotion. Creating relationship stress by surprising everyone is not a good trust move. I do not think if you are a first responder, that message would go over well.”

Here is how Ankit responded to the criticism in the comment section

In response to certain criticisms, Aggarwal clarified that the purpose behind sharing the conversation was to highlight the work culture at his company, emphasizing that honesty is valued and rewarded. He explained,

“The idea is not to show my response but how open conversation is at Unstop so that you don’t have to lie to take a leave.”

What are your thoughts on it? Do share them via the comments below.