HR Strange But True

Top 20 HR Strange But True Stories for 2016, Part 1

As 2016 comes to an end, let’s recap the year’s best HRSBT stories! In true countdown fashion, we’ll start with #20!

Top 20

#20: New Workplace Perk: PTO for Television Premieres

If you know what happened to Jon Snow in the season six premiere of Game of Thrones (GoT), keep it to yourself; there will be no spoiler alerts here at HRSBT! With that being said, a new workplace perk could be on the rise after one London company allowed employees to take the morning off after the season six premiere of GoT—with pay!

#19: It’s No Stunt—This Occupation Is Even More Perilous than You Thought!

Sure, you knew that stuntwomen constantly face potential dangers on-set. But according to a new survey, they face issues other than safety on and off the set as well, many based on being female in a male-dominated workplace.

#18:  What a Gas! Frequent ‘Farter’ Fired for Flatulence

Say that three times fast! We all know that flatulence is a part of our bodily functions, but most of us know when it’s appropriate to cut the cheese, and when it’s not. For one man, though, his frequent flatulence caused his termination. Was this disability discrimination or a load of hot air?

#17: Got 1 Hour to Kill? Let’s Do Lunch!

How do you spend your lunch break? That was one of the questions Fooda—an office lunch service company—asked in its recent survey.

#16: Come Back Later, I’m Busy Scrapbooking!

Productivity is a huge area of focus for many organizations. And rightfully so, if your workers aren’t being productive, chances are your organization isn’t doing so great! We get it. Not all jobs are as glamorous as we’d want them to be, and sometimes taking a break helps us get productive. But sometimes workers take “unproductivity” to the next level!

#15: Employers Beware: ‘Bore-Out’ Lawsuits Could Be Headed Your Way

Let’s face it, not all jobs are glamorous, and as Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs says, “Somebody’s gotta do it!” Sometimes not all jobs are as exciting as Rowe would have you believe, either! Case in point—one employer is facing a recent claim that one employee insists his job was too “boring!”

#14: Pokémon Go-ing to Get You Fired!

It was only a matter of time before someone would get fired over Pokémon Go, the new mobile game that’s sweeping the world. Call me a sadist, but I’ve been eagerly awaiting stories to roll in for the sole purpose of reporting them in HRSBT. While this one particular employee wasn’t fired over the game itself, he did land in some pretty hot water over social media posts regarding the “availability” of the game in Singapore.

#13: The One Industry that Has a Reverse Gender Pay Gap

The “gender pay gap” continues to be a hot topic and, most likely, will continue this way until there is gender equality in the workforce. However, there is one industry that has a reverse gender pay gap, and it’s the male model industry.

#12: Résumé Blunders Guaranteed to Not Land You the Job!

Part of being an HR professional is sifting through the piles of résumés and job applications trying to find the right fit for the role. However, as an HR professional, you may also encounter some very cringe-worthy typos, poor grammar, or misinformation within these résumés and applications. Recently, CareerBuilder reached out to the HR community and conducted a survey to find the most outrageous résumé mistakes employers have encountered.

#11: The CEO of Your Company Really Could Be the Next ‘American Psycho’!

Does your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) display these characteristics: inability to empathize, superficiality, and insincerity? If so, chances are your CEO is Christian Bale’s character from American Psycho. No, your CEO is not a serial killer, but these types of characteristics are synonymous with those of being a psychopath—and according to new research, one in five corporate bosses is, in fact, a psychopath.

Stay tuned for part two of this countdown!

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