A 2007 survey conducted by researchers at Florida State University discovered that employees who endure abuse from their bosses retaliate with poor performance. Abusive behaviors included the silent treatment (general avoidance and ignoring e-mail and other correspondence), personal put-downs, broken promises, and managers blaming their mistakes on employees to save face. Employees with difficult ...

On the surface, it sounds like a healthy company was rewarding its best and brightest. Over 400 employees recently received bonuses. Three-fourths of the company received more than $100,000. Fifty-one employees received $1 to $2 million; fifteen received more that $2 million, and six received $4 million. The highest bonus stood at $6.4 million.

Bonuses, [$165 million in bonuses.]

But these bonuses were ...

In 2007, Spherion, a career recruiting and staffing agency, asked 2,000 employees if they had ever taken office supplies for personal use. Nearly 20 percent of employees admitted they had. Surprisingly, the likelihood that someone would use company materials for personal use increased with education and salary level.

For example, 13 percent of employees with a high school education said they pilfered ...

A Spherion Workplace poll of 1,601 employed adults asked the following question: "If you knew your employer could see content from your social network website—such as MySpace, Friendster, or Facebook—would you remove any content from it?"

Yes: 33 percent
No: 37 percent
Neutral: 30 percent

Sam Chapman, founder of Empower Public Relations in Chicago, Illinois, has banned gossip in his office. Two years ago, Chapman left a larger company where office backbiting was epidemic and damaged both careers and morale. Now he calls the shots, and one of his primary rules is that if you have something to say to or about a colleague, you must say it to their face.

The penalty for breaking this rule ...

Isaiah Williams needed money—fast. Only 19, and about to become a father, he wanted to provide his child with everything he could. Williams heard about the Entrenuity Summer Business Camp, a faith-based program in the Chicago area created to teach African American and Latino high school students skills to operate their own businesses. …

Across the country in California, Opal Dillard was ...

An unidentified beer taster went to battle with a Brazilian brewery, alleging his bosses failed to provide the proper health safeguards when they ordered him to drink more than three pints of beer each day. For more than a decade, the worker faithfully consumed between 16—25 small glasses of beer as part of his daily routine. For good measure, the company even sent him home with a bottle of ...

According to economist Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, being part of a community where others know us does influence behavior. The proof is in Paul Feldman's bagel business. Feldman delivers bagels to companies and allows individuals to pay on the honor system. Over the years, Feldman has kept meticulous records. Among the lessons learned, Levitt points out that smaller offices are more honest ...

In a 2006 interview with USA Today, Israel Gaither, the national commander for the Salvation Army, offered some advice on how to instill employees with a sense of mission.

Here are some of Gaither's tips:

• Begin the day with prayer. • Organizations involve humans, and humans sometimes falter. Leaders should pick up those who have fallen, but also have the option to fire them. • Serving ...

Spam—a term used for unsolicited e-mails—accounts for billions of distractions for the average worker:

• Number of spam e-mails sent each day in 2006: 183 billion
  
  
• Number of work hours U.S. employees spent deleting spam in 2006: 22.9 million