if an employee damages or beats material or equipment will they be fired or punished.

Hello Luke,

I agree with the answer of Jason, aggressive and/or destructive behavior doesn’t have anything to do at work.

Should you be one of those persons with a quick temper I highly recommend to work on that.

Especially in the construction industry we work under usually high pressure, we have tough schedules, often must work over hours and get stressed out, yet we must maintain a professional behavior. That doesn’t mean that you can’t give negative feedback if someone is doing something wrong but violence, no matter if psychological or physical can never be the answer.

As for damaged goods/equipment, accidents can happen all of the time. I damaged a smartphone once because it simply fell down. I talked to my manager immediately, I apologized and I was fine. My manager had the procurement department order a new one. But he knows me and he was sure that I didn’t do it out of malice or bad intentions.

Hope that helps!

Best,

Kira

It is a good and interesting question and I see several of your questions related to workplace behavior. As a successful employee that has been in the professional workplace for 25 years, my first recommendation would be to avoid demonstrating any hostility in the workplace whether it be with equipment or a co-worker. As for the punishment, employer's policies will differ in terms of severity so I would always recommend when starting a new position is to familiarize yourself with their company policies. Most employer's will have some form of new hire orientation to set the right expectations, etc.