The coronavirus pandemic has forced a majority of the population to work from home. While the situation has helped a lot of people save money and time from unnecessary traveling to the office but for many, it has shaken their work-life balance to great proportions. Amidst the chaos, a man has shared on LinkedIn how he had to work from the hospital while his wife was giving birth to their first child.
In his post, the man said that his wife gave birth to his daughter in April while he kept working, adding that working from the office would have made things “difficult” because he’d have to take a few days off and hence, “lose the continuity of work”.
Peak horrific LinkedIn pic.twitter.com/1Pqx0ZOjeF— Sam Hodges (@SamHodges) June 20, 2021
As soon as Twitter user @SamHodges shared screenshots of the post on the microblogging platform, netizens were furious and questioned why the man couldn’t take an off.
“The amount of likes show that people are okay with this kind of toxic work culture and openly support the same," wrote one user on LinkedIn.
Similar thoughts were shared on Twitter.
This makes me so sad. If my husband started working so shortly after I’d given birth rather than being fully present for a life changing event I’d be upset for him and for me. Are they that hard up financially that he couldn’t stop work for a few more hours?— Zella (@ZellarinaP) June 21, 2021
Oh my god I mean even if he doesn’t have paternity leave doesn’t he have any annual leave? At all?! Horrendous!!— Alex Valk (@AlexValk) June 21, 2021
If I had just given birth and my partner was "peeking" at us over his laptop, I'd pull out my smartphone & change my social status to "searching for new partner & father for my newborn child!" Maybe that would get his attention…— David Wright (@wright_de) June 22, 2021
As a father, I’ll say this: whatever you think you’re doing that isn’t 100% oriented to your wife and new baby, you need to just stop it. Your wife, especially, needs your laser focus on her needs and situation, and will for some time postpartum.— Peter Kretzman (@PeterKretzman) June 22, 2021
I mean, I could just about understand if the guy had a crucial deadline that he just couldn’t get out of, and his future income depended on having to work from hospital, but no, dude was just posting waffle on LinkedIn when he should be focused on here and now and thems two.— Owen W-G (@OwenWG1976) June 21, 2021
It's interesting that so many people interpret "work-life balance" as "having both my work and home accessible to switch between at all times" and not "able to focus exclusively on one as the highest priority in certain situations, like THE BIRTH OF MY CHILD".— Sarah Bastien (@SarahBastien1) June 21, 2021
He needs to get in the bin. Sans laptop. Or, put the laptop in the bin, and actually be present. I would be absolutely furious with him. When our daughter was born, the only device hubs was allowed to bring was his kindle. Work was NOT allowed to invade our daughter’s birth.— GameDev Mum (@GameDevMum) June 22, 2021
Some of the users pointed out how they would not allow their partners to prioritize their work on such an important day. Some on LinkedIn, however, came out in support of the man for choosing to work from the hospital.
“He is not an employee, he is an employer who is running a start-up not an established MNC. As he is running a start-up during the initial stages it’s full of commitment and sacrifices until it’s stable, up and running," commented one user before adding, “If there was no choice of WFH, then definitely, he might have missed the beautiful first moments to spend with his new born."
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