How to get the sack
There has been a fair bit of change in employment law recently, hardly has one aspect been established than it’s time for a new one. It’s hard to be sacked nowadays, even if you are caught with your hand in the till your employer must ask you to explain and consider your explanation. But try some of the following and you could be out of the door tomorrow:
Lie to, steal from or defraud your employer
It’s a no-brainer if you’re caught fiddling expenses or faking deals that bring the bank down, you’re unlikely to have a job next week. But surely you can’t be sacked for making personal calls from work or helping yourself to something in the kitchen? Well yes you can. Employers can be as unforgiving as they want over theft and dishonesty.
Assault, hit or push anyone at work
If that smarmy git who sits next to you is really annoying you, hitting him will get you the sack and possibly an assault conviction. Naturally the other persons behaviour will be considered. But you don’t ever need to be violent – just threatening violence may be enough. If your threat is taken seriously and the other person is scared – start job hunting.
Say ‘no’ to your boss
Your boss may sometimes ask you to do something outside your normal job description, as long as it’s legal, you can do it safely and you are adequately supervised if necessary you can’t refuse. Likewise swearing at or assaulting your boss is a sure fire way to get you out the door quickly.
Misuse the email/internet system
Anyone who visits pornographic websites at work and thinks they can get away with it isn’t in touch with reality. Employers don’t need a policy banning it – you can safely assume it’s a sackable offence. If pornography isn’t your thing but you spend half the day surfing the net you will be dismissed for wasting your employers time.
Break the rules
If your work rules say you can’t turn up under the influence of alcohol or drugs and you do, start packing your bags. Likewise making personal phone calls or taking the company car home will see you out the door. Obviously your employer needs to make you aware of the rules but if they do you really can’t break them.
Behave badly out of work
What you do in your own home is none of your employers business, right? Wrong. If it contradicts your employers values and is likely to cause problems should clients or the public find out, you may not be in your job for long. For instance if you were convicted for drug dealing or child pornography charges this wouldn’t be compatible with most Companies values.
Harass a workmate
You would have to have been a recluse for the past 20 years to not know that patting another workers bum, displaying pornography at work, coercing employees into sexual relationships and making racist comments to anyone constitutes harassment for which you will get the sack.
Do your job badly
You’d think this was the easiest way to get the sack but it’s not. To sack you for poor performance the employer must clearly communicate performance expectations to you and provide you with adequate training to help you improve and allow you adequate time for improvement. With many Managers adversion to conflict it means you are more likely to be sidelined than sacked. But if you have a strong boss you may well be shown the door.
Antagonise your colleagues or clients
You read it here folks – you can be sacked for not getting on with your colleagues. Be deliberately unpleasant, hard to get along with, give colleagues the cold shoulder, refuse to share information or attend meetings then your employer could justifiably dismiss you. Your employer would need to try to solve the conflict but if you are still after this impossible to work with you will be shown the door.
Get romantically involved with your boss, direct report or a competitor
The Human Rights Act prohibits employers from discrimination on the grounds of marital status except when someone is in a relationship or married to another employee. It says much about the same thing about your relationships with competitor employees. So watch yourself or you could well be sacked.
So we’ve warned you, act in any of these ways and you could loose your job, hopefully you’ll never be sacked because it could really affect your ability to get a new role. Work is a little bit like school, follow the rules and you will be alright.
Angela Burton