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6 Deception at Work

COST OF MALINGERING

Malingering, by people claiming to be ill when they are not, or wasting time at work, is
unquantified in the UK but in the USA amounts to $40 billion per annum. It was recently
reported that, on any given day, up to 10 per cent of the UK police force is absent through sick-
ness. On average, public servants take 17 days off a year, supposedly through sickness, whereas
employees in the private sector take around 7. In some companies, extended and unjustified
sick leave is considered part of the employment package. So what?

THE ANSWER TO ‘SO WHAT?’

The answer to the question is obvious, isn’t it? Most of these costs and problems could have
been avoided if honest people had asked the right questions at the right time and had exposed
the deep truth. But the unfortunate fact is that managerial training – even in our best univer-
sities – makes no mention of dishonesty and deception at work. On the contrary, the smelly
socks of this world, politicians and legislators, place the greatest emphasis on the human
rights of villains to the extent that they invariably prevail over the well-being of victims. It
is, therefore, no wonder that businesses are woefully unprepared and unwilling to deal with
deception. For every credibility gap, there is a gullibility fill.

The quest for truth over time

GOOD AND BAD IDEAS

Through the centuries, civilizations (and France) have tried different ways of finding the
truth. To say that some methods have been bizarre would be an understatement, but others
have had reasonably sound foundations.

For example:

• The ancient Hindus would ask people suspected of wrongdoing to chew mouthfuls of dry
rice or bread. The person with the most clogged-up mouth was judged to be guilty.

• Some Arab nations would require suspects to lick a hot iron: the person whose tongue was
the most charred was in serious trouble.

• In some parts of China a hanging bell was placed in a closed room. Suspects were told that
they were to enter the room and place their hands firmly on the bell and that if they were
guilty and nervous their hands would tremble and the bell would ring. What they were not
told was that the bell was covered in black soot, which would cling to the hands of anyone
touching it.

• Jews tried the same thing with a donkey with a soot-covered tail. The accused would be
placed in a darkened room with the donkey and told to pull its tail. He was told that if the
animal brayed he was guilty.

The first two methods were based on the fact that liars tend to have dry mouths and the third
and fourth on the belief that the liar would not risk touching the bell or pulling the donkey’s
tail. Thus his hands would not be covered in soot.