Two thirds of employees have embarrassing mishaps at work

According to research by Home Learning College, two thirds of British workers admit to having an embarrassing mishap at work.

In the Home Learning College’s research topping the list of embarrassing mistakes for 10% of male staff is calling their boss Mum or Dad. This is closely followed by 9% of men who have been caught in an inappropriate situation with a colleague at a work party.

Women are more likely to be plagued by wardrobe malfunctions, such as their skirt being stuck in their underwear or wearing slippers into the office, which caused embarrassment to 9% of women.

Men and women are equally likely to bring shame on themselves on themselves by vomiting in front of their boss due to over-indulgence – as experienced by a startling 5% of the working population. A further 9% of men and women admit to having sent an unprofessional or bitchy email to the wrong person.

According to research from the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP) more than one in six (15%) employees said they would read a colleague’s payslip if they found it on their desk and were confident that no one was watching them.

Dave Snow, academic director at Home Learning College, said: “Most of us try to maintain at least some semblance of professional persona in the workplace. However, over the course of our working lives it is likely that we will have at least one memory that makes us cringe with embarrassment. If you have shown yourself up at work then you can either face the situation with your head held high or wipe the slate clean and start again in a new company.”

Due to their collective experiences in several organisations members of the EB team also have numerous stories to tell about work related mishaps.  These include an editor reversing into the chief executive’s car; someone caught reading a colleague’s unopened payslip (by holding it over a light bulb); the caretaker walking in on a lover’s tryst in the good’s lift and a junior salesman found smoking pot in the disabled loo.