Be honest about work mistakes, experts say

By Joy Davia
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

Workers who mess up have an arduous task ahead of them. What can they do to get back into their bosses' good graces?

Be honest and don't defend your misstep, suggested Candace Walters, president of HR Works, a Fairport, N.Y., consulting firm.

If you're caught playing hooky from work, for example, don't say a paltry vacation policy forced you to steal that unauthorized day off.

"Don't come in with an attitude, or try to blame someone else," Walters said. "If you do that, you're not going to endear yourself to me."

The manager might ponder why the worker messed up. Is the worker just immature? Is this a new worker whose slip-up might be a preview of what's to come? Or was it just poor judgment? A one-time screw-up?

Whatever the reason, sharing your sorrows with your boss can't hurt. Walters recalled a worker who did just that. The employee didn't do something she had promised to do. (She wouldn't give specifics. The worker is still an employee.)

"But the employee was so honest and so upset that in my mind it was clearly an isolated incident, where for whatever reason it was just one of those days where you make a stupid judgment and you know shortly after it was done that it was a big mistake," she said.

Because "every fiber in her being convinced me that she was just so upset and embarrassed about it," Walters said there wasn't anything else the worker should have done to redeem herself.

But some workers might want to take extra steps to make amends with supervisors, said John Challenger, chief executive of the national outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Take on more work and volunteer to spearhead projects. Meet your deadlines and don't come into work late.

If your boss works really early or really late, be in at those times, he added. Be more than just a 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. employee.

"You have forgiveness built in as long as you don't keep repeating the mistake or blundering again in a major way," Challenger said. "After all, once you make a major blunder, any good manager will be put on their guard. It's a sign that you're just not up to your job."