You should never tell your boss that something isn't your job, that you can't do something, or lie; avoid complaining, using negative qualifiers ("I can't," "that's impossible"), gossiping about colleagues, oversharing personal drama, or making threats like "harassment" or "lawsuit," as these signal unprofessionalism, negativity, or legal issues, instead focusing on solutions and honest, professional communication.
How to be Professional: 30 things you should never say at Work
Many words that scare human resources fall into clear categories: Legal and sensitive terms: “harassment,” “discrimination,” “lawsuit,” “retaliation.” These words trigger legal and compliance concerns because they suggest unresolved, serious workplace issues.
Showing too much favoritism can be a red flag. People can show favoritism in different ways. They might always choose one person to lead projects, or to make the final decision. They might go to them for advice or ideas, and not offer the same opportunities to others.
Linguist Karen Stollznow defines oversharing as providing too much personal information beyond what is considered appropriate or necessary. An oversharer might disclose details such as their exact salary, digestion issues, intimate details of their personal life, or early childhood trauma.
The biggest red flags at work often center around toxic leadership, poor communication, and a high-turnover culture, signaling deep issues like micromanagement, lack of transparency, burnout, and disrespect, where problems are normalized and employee well-being is ignored in favor of short-term gains. Key indicators include managers who don't support staff, excessive gossip, broken promises, constant negativity, and environments where speaking up feels unsafe or pointless, often leading to high employee churn.
The "3-month rule" in a job refers to the common probationary period where employers assess a new hire's performance, skills, and cultural fit, while the employee learns the role and decides if the job is right for them; it's a crucial time for observation, feedback, and proving value, often with potential limitations on benefits until the period ends. It's also advice for new hires to "hang in there" for three months to get acclimated and evaluate the job before making big decisions.
Examples of quiet firing may include:
"When a narcissistic boss has someone really talented work for them, instead of helping them get opportunities, they aren't only threatened by the talent but they want the employee to make them look good." Narcissistic bosses are likely to take credit for things that go well and to dodge blame for things that don't.
4 Really Bad Management Behaviors: They Shoot Down Their People's Ideas; They Treat People Like Numbers; They Micromanage Everything; They Hoard Information. From Marcel Schwantes, "Humane Leadership: Lead With Radical Love, Be a Kick-ass Boss".
The 5 Most Common HR Nightmares & How to Avoid Them
By focusing on the 5 Cs—Care, Connect, Coach, Contribute and Congratulate—organisations can create an environment where employees feel valued, motivated and engaged. This not only enhances individual performance but also drives organisational success.
Watch out for toxic workplaces - here are our 10 workplace red flags
Tardiness and long lunches add up, and bosses notice – especially if you then lie about it. Don't think your boss doesn't notice if you are constantly cutting corners. Bosses don't like people who appear to be doing the bare minimum.
Bad bosses may frequently use these three common toxic phrases, he says: "Don't forget that you're replaceable." "No one's coming to save you." "You've got to prove yourself."
The aim of quiet retaliation is to undermine the employee's confidence, isolate them socially and make their working life difficult enough that they back off on the concerns they've raised or leave the company voluntarily.
🤔🚫 Five Questions a Narcissist Can't Answer 🚫🤔 Here are five questions a narcissist simply can't answer: 1️⃣ Anything regarding the truth 🧐 2️⃣ Anything about giving credit to others 🙅♂️ 3️⃣ Anything about failing or losing ❌ 4️⃣ Anything about vulnerability or their true self 🌫️ 5️⃣ Anything about their interactions ...
The "3 E's of Narcissism" refer to Entitlement, Exploitation, and Empathy (lack of), core characteristics often cited by experts like Dr. Supriya McKenna as red flags for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). These traits manifest as a strong sense of deserving special treatment, using others for personal gain, and a significant inability to understand or share others' feelings, creating dysfunctional relationships.
Instead, focus on not dealing with them unless absolutely necessary — and even then, give them as little energy as possible. Proponents say the “gray rock method” provides a strategy of being so uninteresting to a narcissistic tormentor that they give up and go away.
The pre-quitting behaviors that made the cut are below:
The five generally accepted fair reasons for dismissal are Conduct, Capability/Performance, Redundancy, Statutory Illegality (breach of statutory duty), and Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR), all requiring a fair process including investigation, warnings (usually), and opportunity for the employee to respond. These cover an employee's behavior (misconduct), ability to do the job (performance/health), the job no longer existing (redundancy), legal restrictions (losing a license), or other significant business reasons like irreparable personality clashes.
Quiet Firing, or silent firing, is a subtle practice where employers discretely encourage employees to resign. Unsuprisingly, this trend of subtly disengaging employees until they finally quit is doing a number on employee engagement and company culture.
The 70-30 hiring rule is straightforward: hire candidates who meet 70% of the job requirements. The remaining 30% consists of skills or traits that can be developed after hiring through onboarding, mentoring, or on-the-job training.
Most people agree that five years is the max amount of time you want to stay in the same job at your company. Of course, this answer changes depending on your pre-established career arc and the promotions within your company.
Here's our comprehensive guide to help you spot a potential bad employer before you take a job that could turn into an on-going nightmare.