Nobody moved.
“I’m not telling you that because I think it was noble. It wasn’t. I did it because bills existed.”
A few faces changed.
“I continued working for more than a year. My performance stayed strong.”
He glanced toward Victor.
“I requested a ninety-day remote trial.”
Victor looked down.
“Three days from home. Two here. Full performance targets. Regular reviews. Documentation from my daughter’s care team.”
Daniel paused.
“The request was denied in two sentences.”
Silence.
“No alternative.”
He looked toward the windows.
“No conversation.”
Then back at the board.
“I’m not here because I believe companies should solve every problem in an employee’s life.”
Victor shifted.
“I don’t believe that.”
Daniel continued.
“I’m here because Arcturus spent twelve years investing in me and then created a system where the most rational choice I had was to walk away.”
Patricia Weir raised one hand slightly.
“What would have made you stay?”
Victor answered first.
“That’s difficult to determine retrospectively.”
Patricia looked at him.
“I asked Daniel.”
Daniel considered.
“Three months.”
She frowned.
“That’s all?”
“A genuine three-month trial.”
“With the arrangement you proposed?”
“Yes.”
“And if it failed?”
“I would have reconsidered.”
Patricia turned toward the financial packet.
“What did losing him cost?”
Victor exhaled.
“That is not straightforward.”
“Recruiting?”
A staffing executive spoke.
“Estimated seventy-eight thousand direct recruiting and onboarding.”
“Project delay?”
The CFO answered.
“Morrison and two internal initiatives experienced measurable delays.”
“Lost institutional knowledge?”
No one answered.
Patricia looked toward Victor.
“So we denied a three-month trial because of hypothetical operational cost and incurred actual operational cost instead.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“That simplifies the issue.”
“Does it inaccurately simplify it?”