by Maria C Collins

Created on: December 22, 2012   Last Updated: January 03, 2013

It is all too easy to lose your job in these difficult economic times. Workers know which workplace behaviours will lead to their employer firing them. Obviously violence, stealing, gross incompetence, swearing at the boss will all lead to your being told to clear your desk and collect your employment cards. Other behaviours and habits, however, can lead to the same result, especially in hard economic times, when employers are looking to cut staff. One must always remember that, when millions are looking for work, no one is irreplaceable.

Obviously, an employee must behave properly in the workplace, however, many workers think that time outside the workplace is their own and none of their employer’s business. They are very wrong to think so because, as many people would tell them, some behaviour outside the workplace will get you fired.

You may think that where you go and what you do in your lunch hour is your own business. However, drinking alcohol in your lunch break could mean that you will soon be queuing outside the Labour Exchange. Should you return from lunch so drunk that you are incapable of doing your job, being rude and aggressive to customers or other workers or breaching Health and Safety regulations, because you have drunk enough to be foolhardy, you are very likely to get the sack. The same goes for drug taking.

The lunch break is one thing, but surely, when you leave work at the end of the day your time is your own until the next working day? Actually no, it is not. The Internet has revolutionized people’s lives and many people interact with others across the world, using web logs, forums, and social networking web sites. Many believe that they have the right to say anything they like on these web sites. Others, who lost their jobs because of their on line behaviour, would beg to differ. 

A Swiss footballer and a Greek triple jumper were sent home from the London Olympic Games, in 2012, because they sent racist tweets. A Canadian broadcasting organization fired a sports broadcaster, because he sent a tweet, in his own time, on his own computer, supporting traditional marriage, his tweet contained no  defamation, or  criticism of same sex couples. A large Japanese insurance company sacked a spokesperson for tweeting insensitive remarks about the Japanese tsunami.

Criticizing your own company or supporting your company’s competitors online can cost you your job. Criticizing your superiors and workmates, bullying,

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