We all have bad habits. Perhaps you procrastinate, gossip, or lack punctuality. These negative behaviors don’t necessarily make you a terrible person—but as an employee they can reflect poorly upon you, and even cost you your job.
A single bad habit is not likely to get you fired immediately, but the cumulative effect of the bad habit over time can.
Here are 7 bad habits that can cost you your job:
1. Procrastination
This habit can seriously hurt you in a work setting. If you’re one of those folks who believes that you do your best work at the last minute and put off projects or assignments until the day (or hour) before they’re due, you may not be aware of the impact your habit is having on your co-workers. If your last-minute rush requires others to work quickly, you will likely anger them, and you’ll be the first one blamed when a project fails or isn’t completed on time.
2. Lying
Misrepresenting your credentials or intentionally plagiarizing, lying on time sheets or billable hours, misusing expense accounts or abusing company credit cards, stealing the kudos for a co-workers’ accomplishments, or otherwise robbing your employers blind can all cost you your job.
3. Negativity
So many of us habitually gossip, whine or complain. But doing any of these too often may cost you your job. Negative employees are often referred to as ‘cancer’ by upper management for good reason: they will eventually be cut out. A good approach if you have a complaint is to speak with your manager directly, in private. Never drum up your co-workers for support first.
4. Tardiness
If you constantly arrive late to work, or return late from breaks, it displays an attitude of complacency and carelessness. So be prompt or even a bit early to show that you are time conscious and that you do care about your job and other people’s time, as well. Whether you intend to or not, arriving late shows disrespect to the social contract of the office place, as well as your co-workers who do make an effort to arrive one time.
5. Poor e-mail communication
This can involve everything from not responding to e-mails to not being aware of how you come across in an e-mail. You might be perceived as abrupt or rude, or too long-winded or wordy. If you have a bad habit of taking too long to check or respond to e-mails, you could miss important meetings or deadlines, cause delays or confusion, or come off as unprofessional.
6. Social media addiction
Another common path to job loss is the habitual obsession that many employees have with social media. If you said going on Facebook 20 times a day doesn’t interfere with your work, you’d be lying. Some companies have taken measures to monitor or limit their employees’ social media use, while others have blocked these sites completely. So beware: spending too much time on social media or other websites not related to your work can cost you your job.
7. Bad body language habits
Do you routinely roll your eyes? Do you have a weak handshake? Do you avoid making eye contact? These could all be career killers. People must understand that actions speak louder than words. And the majority of our communication is done through non-verbal cues.
