Lying about how many hours you work

To figure out the most effective possible response, start by assuming positive intent and focus on trying to understand why the employee has chosen to lie. Some employees are afraid that you or others will have a negative reaction to the truth.

They feel personally involved and are fearful of creating a bad outcome for themselves or you. For example, I worked with a vice president who was setting up a new business division and would fudge his numbers because the build was not hitting the targets set by his leadership team.

This may eliminate or reduce their need for lying. For instance, you might change the delivery period for information or results so the individual has a higher chance of getting them right, or provide them with training and coaching so that they can effectively deliver against their goals without needing to bend the truth. Because he was so skillful in other aspects of his job, the leadership team restructured his responsibilities so that he was no longer the point person for event notifications, and his lying diminished significantly.

These employees can be even trickier to deal with because their lying often takes the form of subtly or not so subtly undercutting other team members. At a client organization, a senior administrator used passive voice, oblique language, and gaslighting to convey negative, untrue information about some of her teammates. Several initiatives lost forward momentum as her colleagues eventually caught on and avoided collaborating with her.

Like Drum, I lean toward the view that the deception here is mostly self-deception, especially in the case of gyms and other recreational facilities. Their business models often rely on members overestimating how often they will attend, so they will be willing to pay monthly fees that in some cases exceed what it would cost to pay per-visit.

It would be the biggest boost of federal aid to Amtrak since Congress created it half a century ago. Flynn said in an interview Monday. Already a subscriber? Log in or link your magazine subscription. Account Profile. Sign Out. Tags: work. Most Viewed Stories. Please enable scripts and reload this page. By Dana Wilkie February 5, Reuse Permissions. Image Caption. Did she lie to you? And if she did, is her deception grounds for firing? Many of those responding to the writer's query advised firing the employee.

Such instances might include when the company loses clients or money because of a worker's lie. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark.

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