How to Ruin Your Work Reputation Slowly

April 29, 2010 RSS Feed Print

Comment (43)
Tweet

Slide Show: 9 Little-Known Ways to Damage Your Reputation at Work

Relationships are critical to actually establishing a reputation for yourself. Indeed, the only thing worse than a bad reputation is no reputation. Some professionals become generic. "They don't stand for anything in the workforce," Bennington says. "It's not so much that they've damaged their reputation, it's that they don't have one at all." Cohen, who's a master coach for the Five O'Clock Club and author of the upcoming book The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide, says that workers can under-socialize. "There's a sense that if I work really hard, the work will speak for itself," Cohen says. Much of the time, it won't.

First and foremost, Cohen notes, people need to know what it takes to keep a reputation intact. "Then you know what could potentially damage it," he says.

Tags:: corporate culture,; careers

Reader Comments Read all comments (43)

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

I am 50 years old and have lived and worked in Pittsburgh my entire life. I am on my 2nd life career and 3rd professional job. Not bad for my age. However, I must say, I have never had a manager who knows how to "manage." They are frequently disorganized, selfish, unaware of what my job responsibilities entail, poor communicators and thin skinned. They are so concerned with being the "boss" and having control over others. My last supervisor never accepted responsibility for his mistakes and displayed the worst characteristic I can think of in a manager in that he is passive-aggressive! He was quick to correct others for things like mis-pronouncing words and he will tell one they are wrong about something, even though they are 100% correct, just so he could make you feel bad and feel like you were wrong. I was afraid to say anything to him. He was unable to do anything for himself, had no memory, frequently lost documents and had absolutely no concern for his subordinates issues. The whole firm was this way. The entire management team swept all of the office problems under the rug as they tolerated bad behavior such as cursing and screaming at co-workers and slamming doors on others faces. They tolerated office extra-marital affairs and slackers and they even praised them, because they had seniority. Management had 2 sets of rules. They tolerated those that padded the billings, ignored others, did not work as a team and behaved badly as explained above, as long as they were in the "favorite" group. The office does not have low moral it has no moral! Management thinks it is a great place to work and cannot fathom and are insulted if anyone wants to leave. They have some employees with seniority only because they have no other experience, have nothing more than a high school education and could not get a job anywhere else. This group is jealous of anyone who has an education or solid experience and they treat them horribly. The company loves these non-achievers. The company wants others to think it is a wonderful place only because the employees with no education or skills hang on there forever. The benefit package is horrible, pay is substandard, unless you are a partner in the firm of course. I could go on and on but I am sure you get the picture. I am so afraid to get another job only to have the same issues again, since they are so prevalent here.

DME of PA 3:09PM March 20, 2013

There is so much psychological tactics going on in the workplace from management and co-workers. What happened to respect? Employees should understand that doing their best in the job they are hired to do and treating fellow employees with respect are foremost important. Jealousy and envy can motivate a co-worker to do harm to another co-worker (verbal or physical). Managers should manage to keep a peaceful work environment. Besides having an open door policy for an employee who needs to speak with his or her manager, managers should be approachable and an employee should feel comfortable approaching him or her. There should be staff meetings to discuss how to maintain a pleasant and respectful workplace. There is nothing wrong with some co-workers who are not as sociable as other co-workers. They have the right to be who they are and the right to be respected. People have their own likes, dislikes, opinions, and preferences. It's how they verbally express themself when communicating with others that matter. People want to go to work, do their job, collect their paycheck, and leaving their jobs with peace. Who in their right frame of mind wants to work in a work environment that always have chaos and confusion? Managers, do your job.

Jane of CA 4:21PM August 07, 2012

To posting by “Roberta J. Santos-Constantino of NV @ Jul 06, 2011 03:20:12 AM”
You don’t speak/Write good English either.
Mick

Mick of NV 4:00AM July 06, 2011

How to Ruin Your Work Reputation Slowly

Reader Comments Read all comments (43)

Rankings Lists

U.S. News & World Report

Sections

How to Ruin Your Work Reputation Slowly

Related Articles

You might be interested in...

Reader Comments Read all comments (43)

Jobs That May Interest You

Follow U.S. News Careers

Like Us On Facebook

Latest Video

Rankings Lists

U.S. News & World Report

Sections