Can You Fire an Employee for Bad Manners?
The answer is a resounding “yes,” according to the vast majority of managers.
According to a new survey by TheLadders.com, 98.7% of bosses believe in office etiquette and 69.7% would fire an employee for bad workplace manners. 82.4% said they have issued an official warning and 6% have actually fired someone for breaching office etiquette.
Among bosses who have fired an employee for bad manners, the top five offenses were:
- Foul language (38.4%)
- Excessive gossip (36.5%)
- Drinking on the job (35.2%)
- Leaving the office without telling anyone (33.6%)
- Excessive personal calls (28.0%)
So, what do employees think is the world’s worst workplace faux pas? Believe it or not, the #1 answer was stealing someone else’s food from the fridge. Finishing second was bad hygiene. Others that made the list included cooking stinky food in the office microwave, swearing and sending messages on a BlackBerry during a meeting.
Practical Application
Based on the above, we have scientifically determined that the absolute most optimal way to get fired would be to (a) steal someone’s lunch, (b) cook it in the office microwave, (c) swear, gossip, send messages on your BlackBerry and make personal calls while it’s cooking, (d) have a beer with your meal, (e) don’t brush and floss afterward and then (f) immediately leave the office without telling anyone.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 5:02 am and is filed under Employment Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower’s North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.
