Seasonal HR horror stories
Halloween is just around the corner, and it’s the perfect opportunity to tell scary stories. While pumpkins, vampires, and zombies appear at our front doors asking for treats or tricks, you are in for a treat with these unique horror stories about Halloween-inspired creatures that haunt the HR archives. Discover the worst HR stories that will give even Jack Skellington nightmares.
The new Big Brother
Managers seek to build meaningful connections with their team members. However, not everyone is comfortable sharing personal details about their lives. Should a manager address your personal lifestyle choices at work? Opinions are divided. Some employees enjoy sharing. Others are private and feel personal questions or even social media following intrusive. For employees, this can feel like an omniscient Big Brother following them through the company. They worry that personal information could be used against them. Good intentions could turn into sour work complaints.
The eternal ghost
Ghosting, the act of disappearing never to be heard or seen again, is typically associated with the dating scene. You and your date have a seemingly good date, but then you can’t get hold of them again. The ghost in the workplace is a similar character. They exist only in the memories of those who’ve been lucky enough to meet them. Thinking about them, however, leaves a chill down your spine. It’s precisely what happened to an Italian hospital when they discovered they had been employing a ghost for 15 years. A civil servant’s ongoing absence hired in 2005 at the Ciaccio hospital of Catanzaro was only exposed in 2020 after the man received a little under half a million pounds for his ghostly career.
The invisible man
Video call services such as Zoom have become the first touchpoint for job interviews and meetings. However, countless businesses are discovering with horror that some of their highly ranked staff utilise the feature as a cloak of invisibility. Unlike Harry Potter’s cloak, which lets him see without being seen, the Zoom cloak ensures that everybody can see you even though you are invisible. More and more people join meetings with the camera and microphone off, seizing the opportunity to be off work while seemingly being at work.
The shape-shifter
The shape-shifter is a mythical creature that can assume different forms. While the typical HR shape-shifting nightmares may not transform into wild animals or monsters, they can be just as terrifying.
Candidates often try to shape themselves to be the ideal applicant for the business. They might augment their CVs with a few white lies, just as overselling their experience to impress during an interview. Yet, when candidates go as far as to make up false references or experience for a skilled position, shape-shifting could endanger the company. A business recently sent a case to tribunals where a pilot used a Star Wars character as a reference. Unfortunately, their apprenticeship on the Death Star didn’t count towards job experience.
Embracing the afterlife
A South Korean employee engagement programme encourages teams to think about their final moments by staging employees’ funerals. Employees lie down into a coffin whose lid is closed. They are expected to stay for 10 minutes in the dark, considering how they have lived their lives. While some participants explain the process can be beneficial, this remains nevertheless a chilling experience.
Hopefully, our spooky Halloween horror stories gave you the goosebumps you were after!
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