Employees Share Some Of The Nastiest Secrets From Their Industry (33 Stories)

As you scroll through the list, you may wonder how some of these highly unethical things get so normalized. Well, to know more about it, Bored Panda got in touch with Apoorva Kale, an industrial and organizational psychology practitioner. She believes that most of this stuff doesn't always start out that way.

"It usually begins as small shortcuts taken to hit deadlines, please clients, or stay competitive. When those shortcuts get rewarded, or at least ignored, they slowly become 'normal.' People look around, see everyone else doing it, and assume that’s just how the industry works," she added.

As per her, it’s not that workers lose their morals; rather, it’s that the system quietly trains them to push those morals aside to survive.

We also conversed with our expert about the huge role that the organizational culture plays in turning harmful behaviors into unspoken rules. She claimed that when a workplace culture rewards speed, profit, or obedience more than ethics or well-being, employees quickly learn what actually matters. 

Apoorva also noted, "Culture spreads through everyday signals as well: who gets promoted, what leaders joke about, which problems are brushed off, and which ones cause panic. Over time, harmful behaviors stop feeling risky or wrong and start feeling normal, expected, and even necessary. New employees pick this up fast by watching others, not by reading policy documents."

In that way, culture quietly turns 'things we shouldn’t do' into 'things everyone knows you have to do,' without ever putting them in writing, she added.

Well, it all makes us wonder how employees still choose to be in such organizations despite knowing all the dirty things that are done behind the scenes, doesn't it? However, Apoorva explained that most of them stay in such workplaces because their brain finds ways to make it feel tolerable. She expressed that they focus on the good parts of the job and mentally tune out the uncomfortable stuff.

"Over time, it also starts to feel pointless to push back or leave, especially when everyone around them is doing the same thing. Employees often separate who they are from what they do at work and treat the job like something they endure rather than something that defines them. These little mental shortcuts help people get through the day, but they also make staying feel like the only realistic option," she emphasized.

Lastly, our expert also chatted about how industry-wide normalization makes reform more difficult, even for well-intentioned organizations. "That’s because no one wants to be the outlier. If cutting corners, overworking staff, or bending rules is seen as 'standard practice,' any company that tries to stop risks looking inefficient, naïve, or uncompetitive," she added.

Moreover, Apoorva believes that there’s also a shared mindset of 'this is just how it’s done,' which lowers the urgency to change. She stressed that accountability also gets fuzzy. When everyone’s doing it, responsibility feels spread so thin that no single organization feels compelled to take the first step, she narrated.

"So even well-meaning companies can end up maintaining the status quo, not because they want to, but because the industry itself quietly punishes anyone who tries to break the mold," Apoorva concluded.

Well, now we know why these nasty secrets keep being repeated from one generation of employees to the next. I guess it's all just a vicious circle that nobody can break, don't you think? Anyway, that's it from our end, dear readers. Now you have a lot of insider knowledge about the industries mentioned in the list.

However, if you are aware of any others, don't hesitate to type away in the comments. You know we always love to hear from you!