People Share 30 Workplace Red Flags That Just Scream “Working Here Would Suck”

High employee turnover is always a red flag.

I was hired as an office manager to a company with no training manuals. The woman I replaced purposely trained me incorrectly because she was sure she was going to be fired. I made a manual for whoever would be my replacement when I found a better job 6 months later. They never hired a replacement, fired my supervisor and closed the location down within a year. Never work for people who don't want you to succeed. I was a pub manager. A young lady my one supervisor didn't want me to hire because she wasn't pretty enough went on to manage another store and I was so proud. Another one left after graduating college and got a job at big bank headquarters. She sent me a thank you note that I still have. Always pass on knowledge.

UK, now retired (ex IT). At one of my previous employers, I pointed out during a staff meeting that every team member hired since I was hired (a few years previously...) had since left. At this point my line manager chimed in to point out that that was quite a few people.

At my job they do not start to hire people for our busiest period of the season until we are already extremely busy. They take experienced people from their work duties to train new hires, which makes it even busier for everyone else.

I went to an interview in 2008 and they were basically a pay us for products to sell going door to door. I was unemployed due to the car dealerships going out of business but did my due diligence to find a job to keep my unemployment. I did not feel it was fair that I was duped into spending my afternoon for a "job" I had to pay for.

If PPE (personal protection equipment, like hard hats, steel toe boots) are required for your job, the company must pay that because it is a condition to do your job. They may reimburse only up to a certain amount, so it is your responsibility to pay for the overages, if necessary (like certain design or style)

Every single restaurant in the US will make you buy non-slip shoes, so this isn't entirely true. They usually offer to take it out of a number of paychecks.

Lol in some places, there are syndicates or local mobsters who do this rofl. But you might get the job, if not they make trouble for the owner or factory.

Translation: We work a lot and never play.

Had a boss who literally told me Salaried = Slave Labor. Needless to say, when I wouldn’t get on a daily pre-workday conference call during my 50mile morning commute, the relationship soured very quickly.

Play hard... to get! So hard, that they can never get you!

Happened to me. The HR was missing and not picking up our calls so we decided to go to the department directly. The manager was clueless and told us that he isn't even aware that people are being hired for his department. We decided to wait for the HR to show up. (The manager didn't even bother to contact anyone). After 3 hours of waiting I just noped out of the place and never went back.

Most of my employers have said that they weren't prepared for me. Mmm.

SO unprofessional! I had a (second) interviewer come out, shake my hand and say, "Cindy it's so nice to meet you." Which means she's been looking at the wrong resume for the past 10(?) minutes. "I'm not Cindy, but I DO have a 10am interview with you". Surprisingly, I did not get the job.

UK, now retired (ex IT). There was one previous employer where I resigned before Christmas and came back as a contractor in January. When I left in December, they should have removed my access to the building, to the IT system and to the telephones (they had a fancy system where you logged into the phone and your telephone number followed your location). What actually happened was that when I came back in January, all my previous accesses still worked. And then they stopped working in the first week that I was there as a contractor. And then they had to be re-initialised for my new identity as a contractor.

I feel like first days are always a clusterduck.

I was once invited to take a mid-year teaching position. I asked what happened to the current teacher. The moron I talked to basically admitted they were screwing the teacher over and had fun explaining exactly how the were going to cheat him out of his rights. I declined the position but called the teachers' union and filled them in on what I'd heard. The teacher kept his job. The administrator who offered me the job really hadn't looked into my background. In the previous school system I worked in, I was the union president.

Yeah, but the worst employers are probably going to lie. They aren't going to say 'it's awful here and we can't keep people'. Have to say I've never worked anywhere I knew the turnover rate of my staff! I guess HR might have those stats but we never let them near interviews - they don't know anything about the job. The reason why we were hiring was usually internal promotion by the way!!

THIS. Twice in my career I took a job out of desperation that I soon learned I was the third in in less than a year. In the first case I was turfed out in seven months and after being replaced three or four more times, the manager was finally moved to an area without direct reports. The second, she was told if I didn't work out, SHE would be fired. Lucky for her, I worked out and outlasted her.

Great way to get hired

Often monitoring the time you arrive and time you leave is actually a good thing. Too many places make people work unpaid overtime by not monitoring the hours. They'll claim they don't monitor, because they trust the workers and then give so much work that it can't be fitted in the normal day.

I am unable to work for a micromanager. I essentially shut down, make mistakes, and end up working slower if someone’s breathing down my neck and nitpicking every little thing I do. Train me properly in the first place, so I actually know what the f**k I’m supposed to do and how to do it. Then all you have to do is just put the pile of that day’s work on my desk, tell me what’s the most urgent, and hopefully you’re smart enough to put it on top so I’d know—-never ever EVER expect me to read your f*****g mind—-then leave me the f**k ALONE! If I have a question, I will ask. If something needs to be in your desk ASAP, I will do it first and get it to you when it’s done. Everything else in that “to-do” pile you left me at 9am will be in a “done” pile by 5pm. But ONLY if you leave me alone to do it!

Um, I will SH*T for as long as it absolutely takes me. Wanna come measure to see if the time was wasted? Crude, I realize fellow Pandas, but come on. You're actually tracking how long my potty breaks last? I certainly won't, last I mean - there's micromanaging and then there's telling me how long I can use the restroom. Worked in one place where I was stopped and told I'd have to wait for my break to use the restroom. I just looked this dumb b***h in the face and told her, "I am a fully grown adult woman and I know when I have to pee. Now get out of my way or prepare for a puddle". SHE was the one who got fired. Heeheeheee.

*cough*Amazon*cough*

Where my son works if he's 1 minute late he gets 1/4 of a point off. 6 points total and you're fired.

Worked at a non-profit that I really believed in; they did great things for my own and surrounding communities. Everything was going well; everyone was friendly to my face. The day before Thanksgiving break, got pulled into the office, and was written up on 5-6 VERY small, unimportant "mistakes". Included in that was being written up for making a suggestion about health and safety. I was written up for telling a prospective hire what the job was like. You get the drift. Noped out immediately. Miss the work, but clearly do not miss the two-faced people there, who all had very fixed mindsets, and seem to be utterly terrified of losing their jobs, so any place ruled by fear, where people are afraid to make suggestions? BIG NO.

Or we can't do that here. We tried something similar 100 years ago and it didn't work. Likely a different thing that failed for reasons they don't exist now but no matter.

I agree, as long as those suggestions don't come before you've had a little time to learn why things are done as they are. Then you can talk about how to make it better.

More "this is how it's done" Even when given an alternative....? But? this is how it's done. No "always" no assumptions to a future

The infamous "Five Monkeys Experiment"!

I am writing from a very personal experience here. This became one of the major reasons of quitting my last job. The management was full of employees who had been in the company for decades and ran a mutual appreciation society where they kept praising each other without any visible progress or work being done, berating new joiners and employees and never accepting suggestions from new hires or anything about the new and progressive market practices. Kept talking and preaching a lot about textbook stuff like coaching and mentoring but having zero demonstration of the same.

This was how my company was (it was bought recently) and it's the best company I've ever worked for. And I've worked for many decent companies. It was family owned since like the 1926 and they treated us like family (or as much as a company can treat it's employees). We were all devasted when the owner with the largest control decided to sell and not just because of what that meant for our jobs.

Or it's company with seasonal work.

You NEVER work for a small family business. You WILL be screwed over every single time.

Sounds like I may be the only one to disagree - I work for a family owned construction/trucking company. The owners daughters and their husbands run the companies and their kids work here - out in the field with the crews. I have NEVER been happier. 2 of the office people have been here 4 years, 1 3 years and 2 25+ years.