In the United States, the corporate landscape is ever-growing and changing based on consumer needs. As companies seem to only get bigger, it’s understandable how a working professional would not want to be just another cog in the corporate machine. This is one of many reasons why startups are so attractive in concept to the workforce, especially young professionals who are just beginning to build a resume. The unmitigated potential to rise through the ranks is often one of the biggest reasons former employees choose to dismiss the risk associated with working for a startup. But before you sign paperwork to become part of a unique mission or vision, there are questions you should have prepared for an interviewer with promises of free lunches and an “exciting work environment.”
First and foremost, there is no such thing as a one-sided employment interview. A prospective employee should use the interview as an opportunity to ask just as many questions of a prospective employer regarding how well they will fit into the corporate structure. Before submitting to an interview with any startup, it’s important that a candidate do their research and come prepared with inquiries regarding many aspects of a startup’s mission, vision, and culture.
What is the nature of your current cash flow, and what contingency plans do you have in place should funding evaporate?
Young professionals especially will skip this question, either because they’ve never applied for a startup position, or because they don’t expect to understand the answer. However, there is typically information available about a startup’s capital on the internet before asking in the interview. Additionally, the interviewer’s ability to answer this question is directly relevant to the culture of the startup. Even if the interviewer is not a C-level executive, they should be equipped within reason to answer any and all questions a prospective employee might have regarding the startup’s trajectory. Failure to answer this question to the candidate’s satisfaction could be an indicator that the startup is only focused on recruiting bodies for the organization.
What are the onboarding and training procedures associated with this position?
The idea of receiving little to no training may sound ludicrous to both experienced and novice professionals alike. However, the quality of training in the early stages of a startup can be wildly inconsistent across the board. There are some professionals who will feel comfortable with being thrown in the proverbial deep end and learning to swim on their own, but that is why it is crucial to establish the training protocol during the interview so the candidate can determine whether or not they will be able to thrive in the workplace.
What level of input will I be required to have in decision-making?
Some startups are looking for problem solvers, while others are looking for staff who can support the decision-makers in their vision and strategy for the company. Regardless, it’s important to know what is expected of you regarding your professional opinion on day-to-day operations. It is just as important to know what level of value that opinion will be given by management and how flexible they are in weighing diverse perspectives amongst their staff.
What is my projected rate of compensation, and how much flexibility is there that compensation?
One of the biggest red flags in a recruitment advertisement for a startup is vagueness regarding the compensation, especially if it boasts other perks for the job such as free lunches, employee lounges, or merit-based incentives to inspire employees to reach for the stars. This is a common tactic used to get candidates through the front doors of the startup in order to give them the flashy elevator pitch from inside the allegedly exciting workplace. While it’s true that some startups do offer legitimate perks in addition to adequate compensation, candidates must be on their guard and be prepared to ask detailed questions regarding salary.
What can you tell me about this company’s values, and what is your execution plan for maintaining those values?
Once again, this is a question you should ask in any job interview, and the interviewer’s ability to answer this question to your satisfaction are crucial to your decision of joining a startup. A company’s values—startup or otherwise–should always be made crystal clear for all employees, and therefore any employee should be able to answer. Those values must also be intrinsic to day-to-day operations, and must be part of every decision made within the corporate structure. It will impact how management builds trust within their teams, how employees are affected in their long-term tenure, and how well a startup will eventually reach its projected potential. If the interviewer is not able to clearly explain the startup’s values, it’s a enormous red flag that says you should look for employment elsewhere.
If you’ve never had to navigate the corporate world, you know that startups can be a great place for brand new professionals to begin padding their resumes with relevant experience in the corporate world. Startups can serve as a literal springboard for careers across all industries, but there is often an enormous drawback when it comes to small company just starting out—pervasive, toxic corporate culture. Professionals hoping to launch a startup have a duty to be vigilant of signs of toxic startups in order to preserve the longevity of the company in the future.
Ego in leadership
When those at the top of the chain of command fail to recognize the hard work of those employees working under them, it can foster an unfulfilling work environment. Executives with a history of taking victory laps that belong to their employees are sure to poison the well—driving up turnover, exacerbating burnout, and actively contributing to the decline of the company. In order to ensure ego in leadership does not interfere with the company’s mission, leadership should always go out of their way to acknowledge the hard work of their employees.
“Yes-man” complex
Another one of the signs of toxic startups is when those in leadership are unable to take criticism or hear ideas that might not be 100% aligned with their vision of a project or direction to take the startup. When there is no room for criticism from those heavily involved with the nuts and bolts of day-to-day operations, those operations will never improve or become more efficient over time. Consequently, this also creates a workforce full of sycophancy and yes-men who do not feel comfortable bringing problems or new perspectives to the attention of leadership.
Lack of diversity
When everyone in the company looks the same, they will be inclined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Even in workplace environments where criticism is welcomed by leadership, a lack of diversity ensures that the incoming opinions and perspectives will be limited. Without diversity, it’s also unlikely leadership will be able to anticipate or prepare for inevitable consequences as a result.
High turnover
One of the most common signs of toxic startups is high degrees of turnover. Every business should expect some rate of turnover in the course of their operations, but high rates of turnover are a sign that there are pervasive problems with a startup’s culture that are not being addressed. When those problems are ignored, employees quickly become fed up with the inattention and seek employment elsewhere.
The “family” narrative
The smaller a company is, the more likely employees will develop close relationships in pursuit of the company mission. While strong working relationships are important for a business to thrive, no workforce should think of their coworkers as family. Even in the best-case scenario of the family narrative blurs the important boundaries between the employees’ personal and professional lives. Under the worst of circumstances, the family narrative can be weaponized against employees by forcing them to form emotional attachments with their work that prevents them from practicing healthy work-life balance, and distorting their own sense of identity.
Earlier this January, the world of the NFL was completely rocked by the collapse of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin on the field during a cardiac arrest that stopped the game cold in a historically unprecedented event. Damar Hamlin spent more than a week in the hospital as physicians attempted to untangle the cause and effect of the cardiac arrest in the 24-year-old safety. He was then discharged with the full confidence of his doctors to continue rehabilitation at home according to a statement released by the Bills. While the freak occurrence has sparked an outpouring of emotional and financial support for Damar Hamlin and his charitable foundation respectively, it has also sparked a larger conversation amongst players, commentators, and fans alike regarding how the NFL cares for their best and boldest when it comes to their quality of care and investment in their longevity.
In team sports such as football, where the players play under the direction or control of a coach and/or manager, they are considered employees of the parent organization—in this case the NFL. It’s difficult to think of sports franchises as having a corporate structure, but in the same way the practices, policies, and procedures of a corporation can have an effect on the employees at the bottom of the chain of command, the way the NFL chooses how to prioritize the health and well-being of their players obviously has a ripple effect throughout the franchise. When talking about corporate culture, leadership is always advised to prioritize the health and happiness of their employees over profit, and players in the NFL should be no exception.
Damar Hamlin was originally hospitalized during a game in Cincinatti against the Bengals when his heart stopped following a tackle on January 2. While no cause of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest and collapse has been publicly disclosed, the Bills’ Twitter account reported that he underwent a “comprehensive medical evaluation, as well as a series of cardiac, neurological, and vascular testing.” His recovery from this incident was accredited to the swift response of medical personnel who rushed the field after Hamlin went down—Hamlin was revived twice before even being taken off the field—actions which not only saved his life, but his long-term neurological function. The incident shook both players and fans alike as they struggled to wrap their minds around how a 24-year-old, second-year NFL player could suffer such a traumatic medical event.
The game was eventually cancelled outright by the NFL, garnering raised eyebrows and visions of a future pivot of values within the league that prioritizes players’ health and safety over the fan experience of the sport. It’s true that pro-athletes have suffered devastating injuries on the field before, but the overall reaction from the teams, the staff, fans, and the NFL have marked this event as significant in the ongoing discourse surrounding care of pro-athletes. While Hamlin may have received thoughts and prayers from fellow players and fans, it still left open the question of how Hamlin would be able to access financial support for his medical needs in the event he would not be able to play another game in the NFL. Due to being only two years into his contract, Hamlin would not have been able to access his pension. However, after an appeal to the NFL and NFLPA by the Bills organization on his behalf, in an unprecedented move, it has been announced that Damar Hamlin’s contract has been adjusted so that he can have access to the $3.64 million set out in his four-year contract with the Bills—a decision that could be a harbinger of positive changes on the horizon when it comes to the terms of future pro-athletes’ contracts.
What happened to Damar Hamlin has sparked a comprehensive conversation regarding the terms of players’ contracts and how the NFL chooses to enforce those contracts. Choosing to pay Damar Hamlin in full for a four-year contract in his second year of tenure with the Bills to mitigate the financial impact of what he survived on the football field is an undeniable prioritization of his well-being. Should the NFL continue to make similar decisions with other players who are injured during games going forward, it would be a marked improvement in the corporate culture of the organization.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for businesses across the United States that prosecutions for workplace violence have fallen in recent years, but these kinds of incidents continue to grow in frequency—with more than ever resulting in deadly shootings.
Here at Lauth Investigations International, among the spectrum of workplace investigations services that we provide, our comprehensive violence and threat assessment has seen steady demand as business owners recognize the dangers posed to their workforces. The question is, do you need a violence and threat assessment for your business, clinic, or hospital? Here’s what you need to know.
Why Workplace Violence and Threat Readiness Should Be a Priority
Whether you are a human resources professional or an entrepreneur steering a private organization, if your enterprise calls a healthcare setting home, then the risk for your team is real. Alarmingly, some 75% of all workplace violence incidents in the United States involve healthcare professionals, and this danger places them 12 times more at risk than other workforces.
However, that doesn’t mean that other industries are immune to the perils of workplace violence. In fact, a survey in human resources oversight revealed that 48% of American organizations had experienced workplace violence at one time or another. Offering further clues to those weighing the value of preventative measures, the New York State Department of Labor provides the following examples of employment situations that may pose higher risks of workplace violence:
Duties that involve the exchange of money
Delivery of passengers, goods, or services
Duties that involve mobile workplace assignments
Working with unstable or volatile persons in health care, social service, or criminal justice settings
Working alone or in small numbers
Working late at night or during early morning hours
Working in high-crime areas
Duties that involve guarding valuable property or possessions
Working in community-based settings
Working in a location with uncontrolled public access to the workplace
Combating Workplace Violence for Your Company
While having a clear policy on workplace investigations in order to respond to violent or threatening behavior is critical, it is one of the last elements of a well-rounded workplace violence prevention and management plan. In order to avoid liability, injury, or worse, your company’s policy should span from proactive prevention through to timely response and investigation.
First must come efforts to make your organization and employees hard targets for potential perpetrators through effective security procedures, clear recruitment and conduct policies, and ongoing training and awareness. It is also vital to understand corporate culture importance—because when toxicity takes hold within a professional setting, violence is only one of the unwelcome symptoms that may ensue.
A violence and threat assessment is an excellent way to hit the ground running, providing a clear plan of how to mitigate risk and safeguard your team against harm. A deeper understanding of the current health metrics of your workplace can be gleaned with a corporate culture audit—a particularly essential aid when incidents of violence or threatening behavior have already become pervasive. Finally, thorough background screening of all incoming employees can help to prevent the welcoming of a dangerous individual into your workforce. Most businesses find expert external guidance in these areas to be essential when it comes to protecting their teams and ensuring that optimal productivity can continue. To find all of these services alongside skilled investigative support for human resource investigations, turn to the seasoned and specialist corporate team here at Lauth Investigations International. We can provide tailored solutions to help your unique organization meet its ultimate goals, so get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation.
While many companies prefer not to disclose that they have been a victim of while collar crime, this dastardly form of criminality is known to cost American businesses billions, if not trillions every year. Once in a while, a huge case hits the headlines, with scandals rocking entire industries or prompting the creation of new legislation to better protect the public.
To many, these white collar crime examples can seem unrelatable in their sheer scale and audacity—but within each newsreel-worthy story of vast-scale fraud, bribery, or insider trading lies a valuable lesson for even the most modest of business owners. In truth, no enterprise is immune to the threat of white collar crime. This makes learning valuable lessons and being proactive about prevention key to avoiding becoming another number in the worst kinds of statistics.
What Can We Learn from These White Collar Crime Examples?
You may be familiar with these white collar crime examples, but why not stop and look again? Within each dramatic tale lies a valuable lesson for any business or organization that is keen to safeguard against the perils of white collar crime and the painful losses, workplace investigations, and potential litigation that so often follow.
Bernie Madoff’s Story Shows Us the Vital Role of Reporting Channels
Perhaps the most famous white collar crime in all of history, Bernie Madoff’s dastardly actions introduced the term “Ponzi scheme” into the everyday American lexicon. Once a jack of all trades, Madoff managed to climb his way up to become the chairman of the NASDAQ before forging a multi-billion dollar investment firm on the back of entirely falsified trading reports.
Despite years of swirling rumor, the villain remain unscathed until one of his own sons reported him to the authorities. For Madoff, the result of that fateful flow of information was a 150-year jail sentence passed in 2009. The question is, how healthy are your enterprise’s reporting channels?
The Wirecard Scandal Demonstrates the Importance of Oversight
In another dark star among white collar crime examples, all appeared to be going fantastically for the 20-year-old German electronic payments company Wirecard. However, an unexpected audit revealed a $2 billion hole in their books.
Ultimately, CEO Markus Braun took the fall in 2020 for falsifying financial records, while his co-conspirator COO Jan Marsalek fled charges and is thought to be hiding out in Russia. The question is, how stringent are your organization’s financial oversight mechanisms?
The HealthSouth Accounting Case Shows Why Ethics Are Key in Corporate Culture
Despite the facade of a focus on wholesome well-being, HealthSouth had been attracting suspicion for its financial dealings since the 1980s. Unfortunately, behind closed doors founder Richard Scrushy had falsified billions of dollars worth of profits, engaged in bribery and mail fraud, and tragically defrauded Medicare and other federal healthcare programs. It makes us wonder, how strong is the ethical framework within your company’s corporate culture plan?
Marcus Schrenker’s Story Showcases the Power of Corporate Investigations
As alarming as all cases of white collar crime might be, there is comfort in knowing that effective corporate investigations can leave fraudsters quaking in their boots. In 2008, Indiana native Marcus Shrenker’s unethical practices as a money-grabbing investment advisor ultimately caught up with him.
An investigation ensued, and rather than face the consequences of his actions, Schrenker attempted to fake his own death by staging a plane crash and parachuting to safety. Happily, investigators saw right through the theatrics and put Schrenker behind bars. The moral of the story is that even the most cunning of criminals are no match for high-caliber corporate investigators!
Do You Require Assistance Keeping White Collar Crime at Bay?
Here at Lauth Investigations International, we take immense pride in helping corporations across the country safeguard the interests of their shareholders and employees while supporting their success and prosperity. This includes the provision of deft, swift, and effective white collar crime investigations. However, it also includes preventative strategies, such as corporate culture audits, candidate background checks, and more. Do you require assistance keeping white collar crime at bay? If so, get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation about how we can support you best.
