Q&A
career coach
Do I have to submit to a background check where some outside firm and clerk gets access to all of my confidential information? Don’t I have a right to privacy?
You think that’s an invasion of privacy? Try buying a coop apartment in NYC where a “board” of selfimportant strangers conducts a forensic autopsy of you, your taxes, financial and credit history. Now that’s invasive! You have a right to privacy and to not submit to a background check, but your employer also has a right not to hire you if you won’t. Luckily, a regular background check isn’t really invasive. It’s just a verification that how you represent yourself checks out. What is invasive is credit checks that get into your bank accounts and financial history, and New York City just implemented the broadest ban on such checks for employment purposes in the country for most positions. It’s hard enough getting a job — resisting complying will make it all but impossible.
I work in a company where the new boss is changing the culture to one that is very relaxed and casual. I prefer a more professional, corporate environment. I don’t want to talk about what was on television the night before, hear stupid jokes, etc. What are my rights?
You have the right to seek out the sterile work environment more conducive to your style — if you can find it. Listen, what is inappropriate to one person may not be to another, which makes managing a workplace interesting and “human.” There are generally understood standards of business conduct that should govern behavior in the workplace. There should be vigilance to remedy behavior that is disrespectful, offensive, or in any way crosses the lines, but I think the PC police have gone too far. We are social creatures, and the workplace has become where most people make friends, meet mates . . . socialize. So unless you are being subjected to a hostile work environment, then your sensibilities are likely to be offended wherever you go. But if you think “more corporate” equates to “more professional,” think again.