Do you know any office hotshot? Easy… They’re sharp, funny, hip, cool and make the job look effortless. If anyone’s headed for the top, it’s this person, right? So why did they just walk into the elevator while holding a box of personal effects? What have they done wrong? Well, regardless of their smarts, they made a dumb decision that cost them their job. Here are some examples of the simple decisions that could have you following the hotshot to the unemployment office.
Spending the Company Dime on Personal Time
You get paid to do your job. You don’t get paid to read and send personal emails or check your Facebook, right? Yet so many employees do these things while they should be working. Many companies are cracking down on this kind of behavior. They have the ability to track how much time you spend online, what sites you go to, or how many personal phone calls you make from your work phone. While they may not call you out on it right away, you’re giving them an airtight excuse to fire you down the road. It wold be a wise decision to save your personal business for your personal time.
Facebook Follies
Pretty much everyone with computer access has a Facebook account, but few realize that by listing where they work on their profile, they become a public representative of their company. Any public missteps can come back to bite you in a big way if a complaint is sent to your bosses as well as yourself. Many people have lost their jobs in recent years for posting offensive material while having their work information listed on their profiles. So if you like being controversial, a smart decision would be to keep your job info off your profile.
CC vs. BCC
Email addresses are a hot commodity for spammers and trollers but you can keep your email address and others’ addresses from getting into the wrong hands by BCC-ing people when you send them emails. This also prevents people in the email thread from emailing each other. It would be a smart decision to consider your contacts before you copy them on an email thread.
Gossip Gets You Nowhere Fast
In a close-knit work environment, it’s hard not to fall into the gossip trap. But, regardless of how juicy interoffice news may be, you can never truly tell who is talking to whom, who has your back covered, and who will gladly throw you under the bus for a shot at your paycheck. Gossiping can be grounds for dismissal if the subject matter is considered confidential, slanderous or damaging. So cover your assets and make the decision to keep it G-rated at all times.