Forget Automation! These Seemingly Innocent Mistakes Will Make You Lose Your Job Faster

Forget Automation! These Seemingly Innocent Mistakes Will Make You Lose Your Job Faster Forget Automation! These Seemingly Innocent Mistakes Will Make You Lose Your Job Faster According to a study  conducted by Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Americans fear that automation will  one day be able to do many of the jobs currently done by humans. But automation isn’t poised to replace people anytime soon - while it may require individuals to uplevel their skills to stay ahead of the curve, “research shows that large-scale job losses due to automation are unlikely,” says Glassdoor Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain . If you’re considered a knowledge worker, job-hungry robots probably aren’t a threat to you in the immediate future - but what might be a threat is how you behave and perform at work.  Some seemingly innocent mistakes could even cost you your job. If you make one or more of the following errors, you’ll want to course-correct ASAP before you end up   jobless. Perhaps the most innocent mistake that can get you fired is a lack of emotional intelligence. One story that crystallizes how important emotional intelligence is: the tale of   an intern who was fired.  This intern wasn’t satisfied with the dress code of the organization she was working for. When she saw that one of her fellow employees wasn’t required to adhere to the dress code, she reached out to her manager to ask for laxity in the dress code as well, citing her colleague as an example. When her manager didn’t approve, she mobilized all the interns who shared a similar view to petition management about changing the dress code. The day after the petition, everybody who signed it was fired. They would later find that the employee who had been given an exemption from the dress code was a former soldier who lost her leg while serving. While some working conditions truly do merit a formal grievance, being expected to comply with a pre-established dress code isn’t one of them- especially if you’re only going to be working there temporarily.  If this intern had more emotional intelligence, she might have realized that drafting a petition could come across as aggressive or entitled. Had she recognized this, she likely wouldn’t have gone through with the petition - and would probably still have her job. Whether it is in your interactions with management or fellow employees, the importance of being emotionally intelligent cannot be overstated; as you can see by the example above, lacking emotional intelligence can backfire and cost you your job. Surely streaming a TV show from a slightly sketchy website or opening a suspicious email on your work computer can’t hurt you that much, right? Well, not so fast. There has been no shortage of data hacks in the news recently, and many times, internal employees - even executives - are found to be at fault, and are sometimes terminated as a result. Hackers are getting more sophisticated and going after the money, and companies aren’t content to just sit down and watch. More likely than not, your company has security flaws that could be exploited, but woe to you if these errors are exploited due to your lack of computer savvy. Protecting yourself isn’t very complicated. Here are some very quick ideas: While some think that radical candor is edgy or cool, it is important to know that - generally - what is cool isn’t always what works. For example, billionaire Elon Musk recently made news for recommending that employees walk out of meetings they don’t like. This view was lauded and even approved by a lot of experts. It is important to know, however, that while this might work for a billionaire, or someone working in Elon Musk’s companies, it wouldn’t work for the average employee. Walking out of a meeting organized by your superior is probably one of the fastest ways to get fired . If you find a meeting boring or a waste of time, it would be a better idea to find a more diplomatic way to express dissatisfaction. The same goes for what you say - having no filter and being insensitive to your co-workers in the name of being “real” won’t only make you enemies, it can get you fired. Oftentimes, you can quickly form strong bonds with people in your professional circle - including superiors - and it’s easy to want to start adding them as friends on your personal social media. Unfortunately, this can backfire. Many people have lost their jobs for what would have ordinarily been an innocent mistake simply because they added people from professional circles on social media. Take the example of Kevin Colvin, an Anglo Irish Bank intern who emailed his boss to get time off for a family emergency, only to later post a photo of himself partying. Colvin’s boss saw the photo on Facebook, sent it to him in an email attachment and fired him. While Colvin was guilty of dishonesty, it is clear that mixing his personal life with his professional life also played a role in his getting fired. We are all unique individuals, but when you’re in the corporate world, it is worth asking yourself whether your values line up with those of your company. If not, it may not be the right fit for you. According to a study of over 1,400 North American CEOs and CFOs, 90 percent of executives believe that culture is important at their firms, and 92 percent believe that improving a company’s culture will improve its value. Not aligning with your company’s culture, then, can have detrimental effects. Here’s an experience related by realtor Suzanne Friedman that shows how important a company’s corporate culture and value system can be: “ I had a coworker who lost her job because of her Christmas card. We worked for an animal-rights activist who was also a vegetarian. Even though our company had nothing to do with animal rights, most of the people who worked there shared a common love of animals. My friend hid that she was married to a hunter, and that her kids also hunted. One year, her Christmas card showed them all sitting before the fireplace at a hunting lodge, complete with animal-head trophies on the wall. She totally forgot, and sent the card to all of the employees - including my boss.” It might not be fair, but at some companies, things like this matter. To play it safe, it’s best to avoid controversial topics - or better yet, find a company where you can bring your full self to work. John Stevens is the CEO of   Hosting Facts . He is a regular contributor to top publications including Business Insider, Adweek, Internet Retailer and Entrepreneur.