Remember that time you called in sick to work and then went shopping or just vegged out in front of the TV…. Well apparently you’re not alone because almost 1 in 2 employed Americans are complicit in a similar breach of work conduct.
And remember the time you hoarded those new Sharpie pens that your office manager just bought from Staples only to bring them home to use in your kids’ latest art project. Well, here you’re among a smaller, more select group of peers who have similarly transgressed….
And remember the time you had one too many martinis at that client lunch and you came back to work only to stare at your computer screen for hours a little unhinged. Well here you might want to keep that story to yourself because few American workers have committed that particular “work crime” and even fewer probably admit to it.
In the workplace, there appears to be some sort of continuum for what’s acceptable (at least in terms of what we own up to) and what’s not. For example, among American workers:
- Almost 5 in 10 have… called out sick when they weren’t (46%)
- About 3 in 10 have… taken office supplies for personal use (30%) or have given a positive reference to someone who performed poorly (27%)
- About 2 in 10 have… had a romantic relationship with someone at work (23%) or yelled at their boss (16%)
- Nearly 1 in 10 have… hired someone they knew wouldn’t be successful in a position (8%); plagiarized something (7%); been drunk during the day at work (7%); or fired someone they thought didn’t deserve it (7%).
- And only 1 in 20 have… treated a friend at work poorly to get ahead (5%)
What’s most compelling is that only about 3 in 10 American workers (29%) say they have done a sum total of zero things on the list above – which means that most of us are guilty of at least one work offense at some point in our career.
What’s your number?
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