Reported for Sexism: I Nuked All the Benefits

"What? How can you cancel our benefits? I haven't even paid for my son's private tutoring this month!"

"I haven't taken my menstrual leave yet. I was counting on it to get a break for some fresh air this month!"

"How am I supposed to pay my car loan if I no longer have the additional thousand dollars in family support allowance?"

By then, I'd walked out of the conference room. I wasn't the least bit interested in seeing their reactions.

Roxy rushed into my office immediately. Her face was pale.

"This is retaliation, Ms. Emerson! We only asked for gender equality in the workplace—not a blanket cut to all the benefits!"

"I think a blanket policy is the fairest way to ensure equality," I responded evenly. "What's the matter? You have a problem with that?"

Gritting her teeth, Roxy stormed back out of my office.

Ingrid didn't look all too good either. "Ms. Emerson, I got my period today. I'm not feeling well. I need to take the afternoon off to go home and get some rest."

In the past, no matter how busy things were at the office, I would've approved her leave request immediately.

Truth be told, I knew she used those two paid days off to visit her long-distance boyfriend.

I'd set up the paid menstrual leave benefit to help the female employees anyway, so I never interfered with how Ingrid used her days off.

However, that was no longer the case now.

Nodding, I said matter-of-factly, "You can take the rest of the day off. Just make sure you complete the leave application like the rest of the male employees. Your pay will also be docked, just like theirs."

Ingrid's lips parted. In the end, she could only bite her lower lip in reluctance and reply, "Got it, Ms. Emerson."

A couple of days later, a shipment of new printers that the company had purchased arrived.

Unsurprisingly, Roxy came to my office once more to grumble.

"Ms. Emerson, the men have no sense of chivalry at all! They only moved the printers for their own offices. None of them is willing to help the women. How are we supposed to do it ourselves?"

In the past, I would've arranged for a few male employees to help and give them a couple of movie tickets or gift cards afterward.

Whenever that happened, Roxy would make snide remarks, both openly and behind my back. She would say I was deliberately giving the male employees special treatment—that I was playing favorites.

Looking at her now, I calmly stated, "The company now operates on absolute gender equality. I believe the female employees are more than capable of moving a printer by themselves. Also, in the future, please don't come to me with such minor issues."

Roxy was left speechless. Since she knew I wasn't going to budge, she turned around and snapped at the women waiting outside the office. She said, "Ms. Emerson said to move the printers yourselves!"

The female employees weren't the only ones feeling the burn. Even the male employees, who thought they could just hang back and reap the rewards as well, started to voice their dissatisfaction.

"Ms. Emerson, aren't we all supposed to be part of the same team? Lucy is also in the sales and marketing department, and she's always been a good negotiator. All I did was ask her to spend a few minutes talking to my client, but she refused to help me! Isn't she being a bit too cold-hearted?"

"Like I said, the company is prioritizing gender equality now. I won't interfere in these matters," I replied curtly.

After getting this month's KPI numbers, I went back to my office. I knew that during this period, many of the employees had it out for me. They'd collectively decided to slack off, hoping to use that as leverage against me.

Unfortunately for them, I didn't care at all.

If the performance targets weren't met, no one would be able to keep their job.

As the end of the year approached, everyone panicked after receiving their salaries.

"Why did I only get a little over four grand this month? That won't be enough for me to cover my mortgage payment!"

"And I've got credit card debt to pay off! If I don't pay it, it'll be considered overdue next month."

Roxy's fingers clenched around her pay slip. She rallied everyone, saying, "Let's call the company headquarters right now! That hag must've failed to meet the profit target and used our money to cover her own ass!"

Within a couple of days, the company headquarters sent down a male executive, Justin Sawyer, to conduct an inspection.

Everyone assumed I was about to be replaced. They threw themselves into their work, trying to boost their sales performance—just to leave a good impression on Justin.

Thus, at the company's year-end summary meeting, Roxy, as the employee representative, walked up to the stage with a smug expression.

She pulled up a company-wide performance report onto the projector screen. Her voice was brimming with excitement.