39 Of The Most Creative Acts Of Employee Misconduct Ever Recorded

When you enter a workplace, there are always certain rules and expectations you have to adhere to. No matter what kind of company you work for, it will definitely have its own policies, ethical standards, and legal regulations. And if you want to remain an employee in that place, you have to stick to all of them, but that’s common sense, isn’t it? 

And yet, from time to time, a thing called “employee misconduct” happens. Essentially, it’s when an employee deliberately disregards all these standards of the workplace. It can range from something minor, like being late to work, especially on a constant basis.

Then, it can be serious, like bullying or damage to company property. The final level is gross misconduct, which would be violence, theft, and other criminal behavior. 

Besides these theoretical and rather common examples, sometimes misconduct happens in more creative ways. That’s what today’s list is all about. As you will see in it, people can be very creative when it comes to misbehaving at work, as stories range from pure entertainment to kind of worrying stuff. 

The reason why employees tend to commit misconduct can vary. From impractical company rules to personal reasons, for example, burnout. At the same time, the punishment for that misconduct can vary too, usually depending on the type of misconduct it was. 

If it’s anything in the small category we discussed previously, it can be handled with a simple verbal or written warning. Yet, if it’s anything more serious than that, again, depending on the scale of it, more significant consequences can be faced. That entails suspension (with/without pay) to even termination. 

When we describe these misconduct situations, it might seem that they aren’t such a common occurrence. And yet, that would be rather a miscalculation. You see, according to 2023 data, around 52% of employees tend to be impacted by it in one way or another.

Of course, the specific statistics would differ from company to company, but what this data shows is that it is way more common than one might think. 

In order to minimize such numbers, companies need to put the work towards employee handling. And it doesn’t mean making the rules harsher, which would likely end up only in bigger percentages of misconduct in the long run. 

Most work can be done when it comes to serious misconduct, like harassment or bullying. The company needs to take them seriously, to show examples that such behavior will not be tolerated. 

Needless to say, even smaller misconducts that don’t impact other employees directly (like theft) shouldn’t be brushed under the rug either. To deal with them and the previously mentioned ones, companies should strive to clearly communicate their policies and make them easily accessible.

They also need to make sure to properly train both employees and their management, and if needed, embark on training for, let’s say, anti-harassment. 

Have you ever witnessed or even participated in any creative employee misconduct yourself? How did the company handle it? Please, share your stories!