Stealing lunch, starting cliques, and gossiping isn’t just for high school students anymore. It’s happening in the workplace, too. Astonishingly, three out of four workers report childish behavior in the workplace, according to a survey released by CareerBuilder®.
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When asked which childlike behaviors they’ve witnessed colleagues displaying in the workplace, workers gave the following answers:
- Whine: 55%
- Pout over something that didn’t go his or her way: 46%
- Tattle on another coworker: 44%
- Play a prank on another coworker: 36%
- Make a face behind someone’s back: 35%
- Form a clique: 32%
- Start a rumor about a coworker: 30%
- Storm out of the room: 29%
- Throw a tantrum: 27%
- Refuse to share resources with others: 23%
These behaviors don’t go unnoticed either; upper management and HR have cited specific incidents related to childish behavior. Some of these include:
- Company owner threw tantrums, yelled, and slammed doors when he didn’t get his way.
- Employee hid to get away from duties and work responsibility.
- Employee intentionally set up a coworker to get him or her in trouble.
- Employee ate other employee’s food from the company refrigerator.
- Employee blocked parking spots to prevent other employees from parking closer to the front door.
- Employee gossiped about all of his direct reports, and then he pretended to be their advocate.
- Employee constantly pulled up inappropriate content on her cell phone and showed it to her “clique.”
- Employee went to lunch and never came back.
These behaviors can also have a negative impact on your professional brand. A previous CareerBuilder survey found that negativity, vulgarity, gossip, and sloppiness can all affect an employee looking for a promotion. It shouldn’t have to be said, but given these statistics, when you’re at work, act like an adult!