People Lie At Work Because Theyre Scared

People Lie At Work Because Theyre Scared According to one recentsurveyof 1,000 working parents, 60% feared that their family obligations would harm their careers. Respondents were concerned that family obligations would lead togetting fired (48%)not getting araise (39%)not gettingpromoted (37%)getting demoted (26%)missing out on key projects (22%)being left out ofkey meetings (19%)So what do these people do about their worries? It turns out a good proportion admit to bending the truth, a.k.a. lying. Heres how peopledealt with their fearslie about obligations that conflict with work (23%)fake being sick (31%)Is this fear misplaced or justified? Bridget Schulte wrote about the stereotype of the Ideal Worker in her recentbookThe ideal worker, freed from all home duties, devotes himself completely to the workplace. He is a face-time warrior, the first one in in the morning and the last to leave at night. He is rarely sick. Never takes vacation, or brings work along if he does. The ideal worker can jump on a plane whenever the boss asks because someone else is responsible for getting the kids off to school or attending the preschool play. In the professional world, he is the one who answers e-mails at 3 a.m., willing relocates whenever and wherever the company directs, and pulls all-nighters on last-minute projects at a moments notice. In the blue-collar workplace, he is always ready to work overtime or a second shift.She concedes this is an exaggerated stereotype but presses that stereotypes reflect deeply held beliefs, and that the notion of the ideal worker wields immense power in the American workplace. Despite a rational understanding that balanced, rested human beings make better decisions andevidencethat concentration and attention-span necessary for decision-makingdeteriorate after minutes (not hours), we persist in cultural admiration of theIdeal Workerand hold ourselves up to that standard. Sometimes this is due to very realcompany or managementculture. Ot her times, its in a grey areaor even mostlyin our own heads. I hopeFairygodbosscan shed some light on which places exalt the Ideal Worker and which ones may be friendlier places to tell the truth.