With the excitement and celebration of a new year, the misdemeanors of the weeks before the Christmas break can go unnoticed. So before you dive head first into 2016 with gusto, why not test yourself about how virtuous you are at work. This survey taken from peoplemanagement.co.uk will help you gauge how honest both you and your workplace are. And might well prompt you to consider a tweak or two for the year ahead….
1. You wake up with a hangover. Would you:
a) Go to work, admit how hungover you are and seek sympathy from your colleagues
b) Pretend everything is fine until you’re found, mid-afternoon, slumped comatose across your desk in a pool of your own tears
c) Call in and say you need some quiet time so you’re ‘working from home’
d) Fake a non-specific illness on the phone to the office, adding some coughing for good effect
2. A colleague is driving you to an event, over the speed limit, when she begins to send a text message. Would you:
a) Remind her of the dangers of speeding and texting and insist she desists immediately
b) Suggest pulling into a service station for a break
c) Ignore it – it’s not your place to tell her how to behave in her own car
d) Fume silently and later fill in a four-page incident report in an email to your management team
3. You’re having lunch in a busy restaurant and overhear two colleagues discussing confidential information about a client that could easily link them back to your company. Would you:
a) Report your colleagues to their manager as soon as you return to the office
b) Take your colleagues to task there and then for their over-sharing
c) Mind your own business – you’ve got your sandwich to concentrate on
d) Secretly record them with your smartphone and post the clip on the internet
4. You receive an invoice from a supplier and notice you haven’t been billed for a large chunk of work. Would you:
a) Call the supplier and suggest they re-submit their invoice
b) Pay the bill and donate the remaining money to your chosen charity
c) Settle up and spend the difference on a team outing to the pub
d) Pay the bill and say nothing more
5. Your business partner is out for the afternoon, and your colleagues suggest hitting the pub for a long lunch. Would you:
a) Politely decline – you’d rather focus on your work
b) Enjoy a normal-length lunch and be back at your desk in exactly an hour
c) Order a taxi to ensure you’re first at the bar, loyalty card in hand
d) Stay in the office and phone your business partner to complain you’ve been left to everything yourself again
6. A colleague has been stashing photocopier paper into her handbag every night. Would you:
a) Confront her and suggest she returns the swag – no questions asked
b) Put an anonymous note on top of the photocopier
c) Turn a blind eye – you don’t want to rock the boat about a trivial matter
d) Put paper on her desk every day so she doesn’t have to walk all the way to the printer to get it
How did you score?
Answers below
Mostly As
You’re so virtuous, you’re practically a modern-day saint. No one likes a goody-goody, so maybe tone it down for the office.
Mostly Bs
You have a good sense of what’s right and wrong, but don’t always like to confront situations openly. Believe in your convictions.
Mostly Cs
While taking the easy way out keeps life simple for you, your behaviour is probably hurting friends, colleagues and your organisation. Think twice before taking action.
Mostly Ds
You are Silvio Berlusconi. Or someone in desperate need of professional help. Or both.
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Photo Credit: Angels We Have Heard On High by Randy Robertson
