Ruh-roh, October is here and that means it’s time for your annual dose of monstrous workplace behaviour! Get ready for a fright.

Those two tricked us!
The mind-bending case involves identical twins. One employer got suspicious after a new hire appeared able to do their job on some days but not others, whilst recognising and responding to colleagues on some days but not on others. They believed that the twins were sharing the job and swapping places with one coming to work one day and the other the next. It became a problem when the twin who had been employed by the company was not actually the one who was any good at the job. The employer let them go at the end of the probationary period.

Advice: When hiring new employees it’s important to carry out the proper checks, including right to work checks of official documentation, such as passports, and asking the successful candidate to submit a photo to be checked against the person interviewed. Obviously with identical twins it can sometimes be very difficult to tell them apart, especially if you’re not aware that the person is a twin, which can complicate things. Employers are within their rights to dismiss an employee who has been untruthful during the recruitment process or is not capable of doing the job.

I wish I had a ham sandwich….
For one employer the office fridge was the scene of a frightful shock. A piercing scream split the shop floor as the true horror of the situation came to light; a hungry employee had taken their sandwich out for lunch and discovered maggots crawling all over it. Another employee had left food in the back of the fridge, allowing the beastly bugs to breed freely. Fingers were pointed, words were exchanged, and the situation escalated to the point where both employees received verbal warning

Advice:  Rows over food are one of the most common causes of workplace conflict, whether it’s someone taking the wrong meal, or, in this case, standards of cleanliness not being properly maintained. Ensure that all fridges are regularly cleaned; in most workplaces any food left on a Friday afternoon is thrown away as part of the cleaning schedule. It may be worth leaving a notice on the fridges to remind employees of this, so you don’t end up throwing away someone’s lunch by mistake.

The creepy heap…
Our next horror story is one of a delicate nature, that involved careful handling. An employer was shocked when they were told that someone had been defecating on the floor of the toilet cubicles on multiple occasions. The employer had to try to find out who the guilty party was and have a discussion with them around appropriate use of the facilities.

Advice: Firstly it’s important to note that accidents do happen and there are some medical conditions that could make things difficult for people. So you need to find out if this is the case here. If it is, then talk to them about reasonable adjustments that could be made to ensure their comfort without putting other employees at risk from a health & safety perspective. You should also be aware that some cultures have different sanitation systems than the UK, so bathroom habits can differ. You need to approach this carefully as ethnicity and disability are both protected characteristics. Make sure that all employees are aware of what is and isn’t appropriate behaviour, as well as the importance of leaving the toilet facilities in a clean and hygienic state as they would wish to find them, to ensure the health and wellbeing of everyone in the workplace.

A fling with a monstrous spin
It’s that moment everyone dreads, you hit send on an email and realise instantly that the wrong person has been copied in. While that’s bad enough, one employer was forced to deal with an employee who had been using their work email to send sexy photos to their partner, but accidentally sent them to a colleague one day. The colleague had not asked for the photos and was shocked to receive them; they reported it to their manager who called both employees in for a meeting. The employee who had sent the photos was dismissed for gross misconduct.

Advice: All employers should have a policy regarding use of work equipment only for work purposes, including computers, laptops, and telephones. This should also include methods of communication such as email, Teams, social media, and texting. Anything sent via work equipment or in working time should be strictly related to work – and it’s never appropriate to send sexy pictures to anyone during working hours. The colleague who received the photos did the right thing in reporting it, and having these policies and processes in place will allow you to take any action needed when you become aware of incidents that violate these policies.

The night of the drunken fright…
It’s great when colleagues become friends, but that can often lead to blurred lines about what is and isn’t appropriate behaviour. That was the case for one business, when an employee invited several colleagues to their wedding reception. The drinks were flowing freely, and everyone let their hair down….some a little too much. One employee lifted another’s top, exposing her colleague’s breasts to everyone at the wedding, before another employee grabbed a male colleague’s head and proceeded to motorboat them.

Advice: This is a tricky one as a wedding is not a work event, so the usual rules around employers managing inappropriate behaviours do not apply. As the events happened outside work in a private capacity it would be difficult for you to take any disciplinary action, unless it affects the employee, or could be thought to affect the employee, when they are doing their work. But it is worth reminding employees of the behaviours you expect all employees to abide by, including respecting each other’s boundaries.
It’s also worth noting that this could be crossing the line into sexual assault or harassment if any of the people involved did not give their consent or were upset / embarrassed as a result of their colleagues’ actions. If anyone decides to report the incident then you could have a police matter on your hands.