Have you ever worked for a manager who equated time sitting at a desk directly to working? And who ignored all unspoken arrangements that were based on mutual understandings and goodwill?

Goodwill and flexibility in working arrangements are a knife that cuts both ways. And it is remarkable how goodwill and trust can dissolve so quickly over a simple change in leadership.

You hear plenty of stories about managers discovering that their strict rules about working backfire spectacularly; things like strict return-to-office mandates and taking advantage of employee goodwill can result in sudden spikes of overtime requests or refusals that were once willing to do on a weekend unpaid. It is a theme that we see all the time in stories online like these ones involving malicious compliance.