I wonder where admitting buying your girlfriend the services of a photographer to have a bunny photo shoot would end up on that list. Seems like most of these tips are common-sense, but judging what common-sense is for the masses can be really difficult sometimes.
By Mark Swartz
Monster Senior Contributing Writer
Curious to know about the kinds of behaviours that’ll result in job loss for sure?
Stealing from your employer is one. Whether you take home a few extra office supplies, or embezzle more than $500,000,000 of company funds (as did former Chief Financial Officer of Tyco International Limited, Mark Swartz – in the U.S. back in the early 2000’s), you risk getting fired on the spot. Jail time may be an added consequence if your theft is significant.
Insubordination such as disobeying your boss or leaking company secrets – no matter if they are important to public safety – is another cause for dismissal. Just ask Jeffrey Wigand, former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky, who blew the whistle on his company for adding more addictive chemicals to cigarettes. You may know of Wigand from the movie that was made about him in 1999, The Insider, starring Russell Crowe.
Incompetence can result in job loss as well. Like in Winnipeg when, back in February 2010, a male and female teacher were suspended for “dirty dancing” shockingly in front of a gymnasium full of students during a high school pep rally. The YouTube video of this event is memorable. It captures forever how a few moments of self-indulgence can ruin your professional reputation.
Common Mistakes That Can Also Get You Fired
Most people don’t steal half a billion dollars or dance like a couple of porno stars at work. But even if you’re super-conscientious on the job, at one point or another for sure you’ll commit at least a few of the following slip-ups:
Be late for a meeting
Show up less than fully prepared for a presentation you have to make
Submit information that hasn’t been perfectly checked for errors
Exaggerate to your boss, a colleague or your customers
Borrow someone else’s idea or material without giving proper credit to them
Forget to copy someone relevant on an e-mail or memo
Misinterpret instructions you’re given because you don’t ask for clarification
Do some of the above often enough and you put your job at risk. Fortunately much of the time these types of lapses are fairly minor.
If that’s the case then hopefully you can repair the damage by apologizing, coming up with a good explanation, or by doing your best to fix the problem you’ve created. Not every slip-up is cause for immediate dismissal. Usually it’s letting the small, more or less avoidable slips pile up that gets us in trouble.
Avoiding Career Limiting Moves
Just so we’re clear: no employee is 100% perfect. Occasionally you’ll either forget to do something you were supposed to, or you’ll end up doing something you weren’t supposed to.
With a bit of extra planning and by not rushing so quickly that you cut corners, a lot of common errors can be prevented. Make sure that you do small things well. Meet deadlines and stay within budgets. Double check any of your work that could cause problems if not mistake-free.
Of course, if you’re intent on losing your job, then by all means consider theft, insults, laziness or absence as your main routes to unemployment. Or simply do your job sloppily and act like you don’t care. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you about the outcome.