Top Ten List of Why People Get Fired
Companies take risks when they hire people. Employees have access to company property, information, and in some cases, company money. In addition, employees interact with other employees and often have access to personal and professional information about other people in the company. What companies expect from employees is honesty and top performance that brings value and goodwill to the company.
The reason that companies fire employees is failing to provide honesty, top performance, and to promote goodwill. In working as a corporate recruiter, I have known of people who lost jobs for the following reasons.
Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. The information I am presenting comes from my professional experience as a recruiter.
1. Office romance can get you fired. Certainly, sexual harassment can get you fired.
2. Falsifying information on a job application can get you fired. Companies often do a thorough job of checking backgrounds, completing reference checks, obtaining copies of college transcripts, and verifying compensation. Sometimes, discovery the false information on a job application does not happen until after a person has started to work for the new company.
3. Stealing is a common cause for firing. One particular case that comes to mind is that of an employee who would make telephone sales calls and charge car mileage for driving to the customer.
4. Bringing illegal drugs to the workplace will get you fired. I have known of more than instance when a company fired a person for possession of illegal substances in the workplace. Because possession of illegal substances involves legal issues, companies need to handle the issue with help from legal authorities.
5. Drinking on the job will get you fired. Different companies handle people with drinking problems in different ways, depending on the company policy and the circumstances.
6. Losing a driver’s license may cost a person a job. Repeated speeding violations, failing to appear to face traffic charges, failure to pay traffic fines, and driving under the influence of mind -altering chemicals can cost a person to lose a driver’s license. Losing a driver’s license alone is generally not sufficient cause for termination. If losing the license prevents a person from doing his or her job, then losing a driver’s license can cost a person a job.
7. Poor performance can cost a person a job. Some companies use a forced ranking system as part of the company’s performance evaluation process. Known as stack ranking, the process creates brackets. Perhaps the best known is the 20-70-10 Employee Stack Ranking system. Companies require managers to put each employee at some level of the stack. Companies promote the top 20% tier. They give standard pay raises to the middle 70% of the stack. They fire the bottom 10 % of the employees. Industry-wide, the process of “rank and yank” has mixed reviews. Some managers consider the process as arbitrary and demotivating.
8. Damaging company equipment can get you fired. Operators of major equipment face large responsibility.
9. Using the Internet for personal use during company time can get you fired. What you publish on the Internet anytime can get you fired as well.
10. Making too many personal calls from work can get you fired.
