The Reclamation Index: Why We Don’t Say ‘Stealing’

MEMO-2026-006 · DEPT. OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS · CLASSIFICATION: STYLE GUIDE

To all employees and external partners,

The Department of Corporate Communications has received several inquiries regarding our terminology. Specifically, why Hardly Working Corp. uses the word “reclaimed” to describe time spent not working, rather than more colorful alternatives.

This memo clarifies our language policy and the reasoning behind it.

In other news: Hardly Working Corp. released an update to the official app!

Your current reclamation session now surfaces on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island.

• END ACTIVITY button concludes a session without opening the app.

• Substitute activity codes in-place — your three most-recently-used are always one tap away.

• Elapsed time ticks live on the Lock Screen.

— J. Pemberton, CSO

The Words We Use

• “Reclaimed” — not “stolen,” “wasted,” or “lost”

• “Activity” — not “offense” or “violation”

• “Session” — not “incident”

• “Employee” — not “perpetrator”

• “Reclamation” — not “theft”

Why “Reclaimed”

The word “steal” implies that something belonged to someone else. This is the framing most employers prefer. Your time, between 9 and 5, belongs to the company. Any minutes spent not advancing company interests are minutes taken from the company.

Hardly Working Corp. operates under an alternative classification methodology.

Consider: you sell your employer eight hours of availability per day. In exchange, they compensate you at an agreed rate. This is a transaction. Both parties have fulfilled their end when the clock runs out.

But what happens during those eight hours is more complex than any employment contract suggests. Your employer does not purchase your focus. They do not purchase your enthusiasm. They do not purchase the contents of your mind. They purchase your presence and a reasonable effort.

The time between reasonable efforts — the coffee, the scroll, the stare — falls outside the scope of the employment transaction. It is therefore classified as reclaimed rather than taken.

The Economics

There is a deeper reason we avoid the language of theft.

If an employee earning $30/hour is productive for three hours and unproductive for five, the employer pays $240 for $90 of output. By the theft framework, the employee “stole” $150.

But consider the reverse. That same employee generated ideas, solved problems, and produced work during those three hours that the employer will profit from indefinitely. The employee will not see those profits. They will see a flat hourly rate.

Who, in this arrangement, is really taking from whom?

We do not ask this question publicly. It is not good for business. But it is the reason we say “reclaimed.”

Implementation

The terminology outlined above is effective immediately across all Hardly Working Corp. communications, dashboards, and reporting tools. The system is observational, not prescriptive. No corrective guidance is issued regarding reclamation volume or duration.

Employees are encouraged to use the terminology as documented. Interpretation is left to the individual.

— Dept. of Corporate Communications
Approved by: Office of the Chief Slacking Officer