5 Shocking Reasons Why Professional Dishonesty Is Now The Greatest Cause Of Career Failure

By Perminus Wainaina

Dishonesty seems to define our age. Just admit it.

You’ve called in sick at least once or twice in your place of work when you clearly knew that it was never a health scare. Probably a cold or you just felt lazy. (It happens)

Or better still, getting current, a recent survey has revealed that about 58% of employees are prone to call in sick especially with the FIFA World Cup mood or when their best team will be playing.

Just think about it…

Currently, Kenya has a thriving corporate industry based on dishonesty, ranging from falsifying documents in interviews to outright fraud in business.

A closer look into the recent corporate scandals  sheds greater light on the shadiness nature of this current corporate world.

It now appears like for you to succeed as a professional, you have to use dubious methods, engage in shady activities or dishonest dealings just to achieve that success.

But did you know this comes at a cost of its own?

Contrary to your belief, dishonesty destroys your career completely.

Here is how;

1. It’s creates a false persona of yourself

The whole idea behind dishonesty is making yourself out to be someone you’re not.

This starts from a simple lie like lying about why you’re late to work, lying about why you need some days off, lying about your competence in that job interview or even worse about your responsibilities on your CV.

See, it starts small.

It then grow to a character which finally defines your persona. And keep in mind that trying to live out this non-existent persona is extremely difficult.

It can create some psychological problems, low self-esteem at work or even depression and a general sense of mistrust among the people you shall be interacting with once you’re caught.

Most employers and colleagues have a hard time trusting those who seem artificial.

2. It burns professional bridges and kills other important networks

Let’s face it.

Who has never been a victim of dishonesty, from underweight meat from that butcher in your neighbourhood to candidates in interviews who promise what they cannot deliver.

Or rather how many people known to you have been promised jobs by relatives or a friend of a friend and they never got the job?

As we said earlier, not all dishonesty at work has to involve theft or fraud. Even what you might think of as a white lie is still a lie.

If you tell your boss that you have to miss Friday’s meeting because you’re going to a funeral and it comes out that you actually went to the salon your relationship is going to suffer.

This is because work relations are built on trust.

Hence, as an ethical professional, it is very importance to uphold integrity and moral ethics in the workplace to brand yourself in the best light possible.

Who knows?

The very same employers you stole from last year before you moved to your new job, could be the same person being consulted about your professional background!

3. Dishonesty has the ability to destroy a great business

Any dishonesty dealing in a company goes beyond lowering its productivity. It kills the entrepreneurship spirit and finally brings down the entire business.

Just look at firms like Microsoft and PwC.

They were started by one or two very honest people and the firms are able to expand successfully because the founders and employees are rooted in an honest culture.

Now coming to Kenya, it has become hard to start enterprises with fellow Kenyans including relatives.

As soon as profits starts coming, dishonesty sets in.  And remember, 80% of people make a decision to purchase goods or services from your company, based on that company’s ethicality.

When it loses its ethics, it loses its entire basis of operations.

So your dishonest tricks have tremendous power of bringing down an entire business!

4. It ruins your reputation as a trustworthy professional

Each of us has a reputation that follows us from place to place.

That reputation may be good or it may be bad. I hope yours is good and I’m assuming that you want to keep it that way.

You see, in today’s hyper-connected world, even the smallest public misstep can spell the end of your once-great reputation.

Whether it’s lying to cover up a mistake or adding a few thousand shillings to your salary history in the hopes of getting a better offer, getting caught lying is a sure-fire way to fatally harm your reputation with anyone who hears about it.

The workplace depends on being able to take people at their word; if you show that people can’t trust you, you’ll have a terrible time building the relationships that you need at work and when you’re looking for your next job.

So, what’s the antidote for Dishonesty in the work place?

The antidote to dishonesty in the workplace is nothing but the truth itself.

However, this is better said than done especially in Kenya where according to the Star, Corruption has grown by 240% over 5 years.

It takes an individual stand.

Honesty must be a rooted ethic that comes to you by default, something that advises you every time you open your mouth to defend that mistake, turn on your computers to send that late emails, or make a very crucial decision in the company in general.

As Mr. Mutuma Mathiu one of the authors of the Daily Nation puts it, we may present ourselves as polished and educated but our dishonesty and scarcity mentality shows that we are still peasants, hunched over a smoky fire in a hut with holes on the wall somewhere deep in Africa.

It’s time we realized that true career success comes to the honest and only the honest!