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You can get into big trouble at work through many ways. The top ten ways are

1. Taking away confidential information

During the course of your work, you would invariably receive much information, both confidential and non-confidential. Any information you receive in course of your work is vital to the commercial interests of the company. The temptation to take such data away to your home would be great. You could approach and deal with customers directly, bypassing the company, or you might just want to store such data away for future use, just in case. However, the risks are too great. Most companies have multi-layered security systems that can easily identify who took away the information.

Any company worth its salt would have made you sign an agreement against taking away work related information, and even if there is no such agreement, theft of company information is the fastest way to get into trouble. Your services in the company will definitely come to an end, and depending on the sensitivity of the information and the potential damage, you could also face a lawsuit.

2. Stealing or misusing company property

Most companies would condone employees using the Internet to check their personal mail once or twice a day. Anything beyond that would however be looked upon seriously. Misusing the Internet and telephone for any purpose, be it chatting with friends, developing your personal website, playing games, preparing for your exams, writing for Helium, spamming or sending offensive mails, or any other purpose is a serious breach of the employment contract. Similarly, it would be tempting to take away the office mouse when you home mouse stops working, or some office stationary. However, any theft of company property will invite serious retribution.

Companies pay high premium to integrity and misuse or theft of company property can lead to instant terminations, no matter how competent a worker you may be.

3. Submitting falsified education or experience papers

When you joined, you might have faked your education or experience. You might have got away with it at that time, but the company can always review these documents, especially when at the time of performance appraisals and promotions. This again falls in the realm of personal integrity, which most companies take seriously. The fact that any sort of forgery, misrepresentation or impersonation would lead to termination is a standard clause in most appointment letters.

4. Rants against the company or management, or

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