Employees Who Fib

Rightly, we are frustrated and unforgiving of companies who lie, CEOs who lie, moneychangers who lie, politicians who lie, clergy who lie—partly because we feel that we’re living up to a certain standard of behavior which they clearly are not.

What about employees who lie?

As a manager, I’ve been fed remarkable doses of  pre-meditated, bald-faced, double-dealing, mealy-mouthed spuriousness by some employees. Luckily few and far between.

Tit for tat some might say. “Workers always think management is full of s**t,” asserts Darrell Davis. Who can argue the corporate trust factor has sunk to record lows in the past decade?  People are innately distrustful of management and companies. You reap what you sow?

Not exactly.

In our company’s case, being straight with staff is part of our operating ethos. Some actually consider it a perquisite of sorts. If we’re straight up with people, we expect the same in return. An unreasonable expectation, perhaps. Laughable, perhaps.

Nonetheless, what does a company do when someone, treated as a valued and respected employee, lies through their teeth? Some might say, it serves you right, learn to become a better judge of character. Or it’s yet another symptom of the Coming Apocalypse, i.e., you can’t trust anyone.

Let me describe my encounter. Then you tell me.

We employed a guy for a few years. He was moving on up. And, he was good. A little too edgy, at times, a little too righteous, but very good. I thought he had potential to hold a very significant leadership role. So, along with his immediate supervisor (a long-time employee of the company), we tried to nurture the relationship. I went so far as to schedule a lunch with the three of us to ask him what role in our company he would most aspire to. He told us. It was a good fit. We proceeded to set it up for him, requiring months of planning, moving people around, interviews for replacements, strategic discussions, money spent—which he participated in. All along the way, I checked and double checked to make certain this was what he wanted, it being a sea-change for us. We finally moved all the pieces into place. The week we were to make our move, he walked in and resigned, informing me he was leaving to join a competitor, no less! Obviously he had been interviewing for weeks prior.

Get over it? I did.

The broader issue remains... stuck in my craw. There’s an inherent inequity and incongruity that requires companies to be as accommodating as possible to employees concerns and sensitivities, be straight, tell the truth, no lies, no BS, yet there’s no quid pro quo for employees.

If it had been me doing the lying he’d have sued for misrepresentation. With the shoe on the other foot I’m not at all certain a legal environment exists that would have allowed me to reciprocate.

I know where I would have liked to put that shoe.