As a long-time fantasy football player, I am terrified by this story of a termination that occurred in Texas (one of the football capitals of this country). The quick details: Pettigrew and three other Fidelity employees were fired for playing fantasy football. “Firing a guy for being in a $20 fantasy league? Let’s be honest; that’s a complete overreaction,” said Pettigrew, who lives in Grapevine and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. “In this economic time, especially. To fire people over something like this, it’s just cold.” Said Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio: “We have clear policies that relate to gambling. Participation in any form of gambling… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Lose Your Job
Chances are if urination is involved, you will lose your job. From SalesHQ.com’s article 15 Stupidest Ways to Lose Your Job: When April 15 rolls around, urinating on the IRS might be on top of your to do list. But be careful—like audits, the IRS does not take peeing lying down. As first reported by The Smoking Gun, an IRS employee relieved himself in the freight elevator “on numerous occasions.” After the signature scent was noticed, a federal agent installed a surveillance camera and caught the urinator in the act. Did the culprit have a bladder problem? No, he said he “did this because he felt he could get away… Read More
Continue ReadingElectronic Layoff
The news stories are flowing about layoffs, downsizing and closing in this brutal economy. One such story from abcnews.com shares stories from readers regarding extreme situations for being let go. This one was amusing: After a traditional face to face layoff session, my company tried a new kinder gentler approach. They called a big meeting and announced that every employee had e-mail back on their computer that would tell them if they still had a job. I didn’t! I’ve been let go during layoffs before and there isn’t any easy way to do it. However, it seems to me that if your communication strategy is to use some form of… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Is About Margins
This post from the Pondemonium blog at Inc.com explains the rationale behind hiring from a corporate and employee perspective. What is interesting is that the blogger is the decision maker who had to let people go last week. I thought these graphs cut right to the core of employment: I don’t know about other companies, but every time I’ve ever hired someone to work here, it was because I fully believed I’d be able to make more money with them than without them. In other words, if I pay someone $1 to do something, I expect to make $2 from their efforts or services. It’s really that simple! Unfortunately my… Read More
Continue ReadingLosing Your Job Via MySpace
There is a fine line that has yet to be determined when it comes to blogs, social networking and other web 2.0 tools. Case in point, this post from Podcasting News: Last year, she was dismissed from the student teaching program at a nearby high school and denied her teaching credential after the school staff came across her photograph on her MySpace profile. She filed a lawsuit in April this year in federal court in Philadelphia contending that her rights to free expression under the First Amendment had been violated. No trial date has been set. Her photo, preserved at the “Wired Campus” blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education,… Read More
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