Top 25 Worst Passwords of 2015

When it comes to making up passwords, we’re not doing so great as a society.

“Password” and “123456” still claim the top two spots on the list, where they’ve remained for the past five years (we can’t say we’re too surprised). Simple numerical passwords remain an easy go-to; six of the top 10 passwords are comprised of only numbers.

You’ll also find that references to sports and pop culture are fairly common. “Football” and “baseball” are both in the top 10 list, and in line with the release of The Force Awakens, “starwars,” “solo” and “princess” are all new entries on this year’s list.

Several others that weren’t on the 2014 list include “welcome,” “login” and “passw0rd.” Changing that “o” in password to a zero might seem original, but a lot of people had the same idea.

If you see your password on this list, make your 2016 resolution to do better. In parentheses, we’ve noted how that password fared on last year’s list.

  1. 123456 (unchanged from 2014)
  2. password (unchanged)
  3. 12345678 (up 1 spot from 2014)
  4. qwerty (up 1)
  5. 12345 (down 2)
  6. 123456789 (unchanged)
  7. football (up 3)
  8. 1234 (down 1)
  9. 1234567 (up 2)
  10. baseball (down 2)
  11. welcome (not on 2014’s list)
  12. 1234567890 (not on 2014’s list)
  13. abc123 (up 1)
  14. 111111 (up 1)
  15. 1qaz2wsx (not on 2014’s list)
  16. dragon (down 7)
  17. master (up 2)
  18. monkey (down 6)
  19. letmein (down 6)
  20. login (not on 2014’s list)
  21. princess (not on 2014’s list)
  22. qwertyuiop (not on 2014’s list)
  23. solo (not on 2014’s list)
  24. passw0rd (not on 2014’s list)
  25. starwars (not on 2014’s list)

6 Sins of Well Meaning Supervisors

Sometimes it seems as though there are a thousand ways supervisors and managers—with the best of intentions—can practically beg for a lawsuit. We’ve distilled it down into 6 major sins you can talk to your supervisors about (and you might as well include your managers).

Sin #1. Making Unlawful Pre-employment Inquiries

That’s an interesting accent you have. Where were you born?

Do you have any children? If so, will you have any daycare problems?

By the way, we’re all about diversity here.

Inappropriate questions during interviews and other pre-employment contacts are a primary source for claims of discrimination. The courts generally assume that if you asked a question, you intended to use the answer as a factor in your hiring decision. Therefore, any questions about or references to protected categories like sex, age, race, national origin, or religion can later be used against you in court in a discrimination claim.

Sin #2. Delivering “Dishonest” Evaluations

I’m giving you a “satisfactory” rating and I think we both know what that means in this company.

I gave her a “good” rating even though her work is poor, because I think a “poor “rating would be demotivating.

Many managers and supervisors avoid the discomfort of delivering a review that indicates poor performance and instead cop out with a “satisfactory” rating. As a result, many legitimate actions taken against an employee based on poor performance can be questioned because the performance reviews are positive.

Sin #3. Too Vague in Discipline and Performance Write-ups

Sally, your work could use improvement.
I’m making a note here that we talked about your performance.

Jay’s poor performance is unacceptable, and I’m just going to spell it out—he’s lazy.

Again because of the desire to avoid unpleasantness, managers and supervisors will often write something on performance evaluations like “needs improvement.” That’s too vague. Does it mean the employee did a great job, but there’s always room for a little improvement, or does it mean that the employee did a terrible job?

Or, how about “Talked about your performance.” Was that to tell her how exceptional her performance and behavior were?

And then we’ve got judgment words like “lazy.” Again, too vague. Offer documentation and give specific examples of the unacceptable behavior.

Sin #4. Making Rash Disciplinary Decisions

That’s it, I’ve had it, you’re fired.

Ultimately, firing may be the appropriate thing to do, but instantly in anger isn’t the way to do it. First of all, an angry, public tirade gets those “I’m going to sue” juices flowing. Second, you should never fire without carefully reviewing the circumstances with HR. They are in a good position to evaluate the appropriateness of the punishment and its consistency with previous similar cases.

Sin #5. Making Uninformed Responses to Medical Leave Requests

You want what? You want 5 weeks of bonding leave during our busiest season? I don’t think so.
You’re going to take every Friday off? That’s not going to happen.

Few supervisory situations are as frustrating and challenging as dealing with employee requests for medical leave, but managers and supervisors have to curtail that frustration and respond professionally.

You just don’t want your managers and supervisors trying to deal with FMLA leave. The basic rule for managers and supervisors should be: Contact HR.

Sin #6. Not Realizing the “Power” of the Supervisor

Let’s go out for a drink after work. Then maybe we’ll grab dinner.

I’m hoping everyone will contribute generously to my charity.

Inviting an employee out for a drink after work may seem a simple gesture, but the subordinate may view it as an order. Especially if the request is repeated, it can always be viewed as coercion or harassment. Supervisors and managers are agents of the company, and when they engage in behavior that may be considered harassment, it’s especially egregious because of the power they have over their employees.

Another aspect of supervisors’ agent status is that if the supervisor knows, the company knows. The company can’t say, “We weren’t aware of the situation.”

6 Reasons Companies Outsource Recruiting

1. They’re Having Trouble Finding Great Candidates

Yes, even in this economy organizations are having trouble finding the right people to fill their open positions. No, they don’t always have this problem because they are being too picky or because they want to pay a lower-than-standard salary. If the organization is serious about finding great candidates and getting those positions filled, then they may outsource their recruiting to source candidates in more places, to improve their employment branding, and/or work on the job descriptions for these positions.

2. It’s Taking Time & Resources Away from the Core Business

Not everyone is in the hiring and recruiting business, and even though most companies have some sort of recruiting function, sometimes it could take away from a business’ core. This is especially true for smaller companies, who might not necessarily have someone on staff to just work on recruiting. Here, outsourced recruiting helps them by allowing a consultant or a provider to do what they do best without taking away from what the rest of the company does best.

3. They Need to Reduce Their Turnover Rates

The turnover rate is the percentage of new hires that leave within a designated period, say the first month or two of the position. A high turnover rate can hurt a company’s bottom line, and is often a sign that there are bigger problems with the company’s recruiting functions, problems that aren’t necessarily fixed by increasing the salary or by doing a better job interviewing (although, both might help). In this case, an organization may outsource its recruiting to a recruitment process outsourcing firm to reduce the turnover rate as well as fix those bigger problems.

4. It Levels the Playing Field

Start-ups and smaller companies will outsource their recruiting because they don’t have the resources in-house to keep up with larger competitors. By outsourcing, they can level the playing field and not have to worry about losing good talent because the competitor did a better job of selling the position or offering better benefits.

5. Their Current Recruiting Functions are Out of Control

Companies who are on the fast track, or face seasonal cycles, often have recruiting functions that are tough to handle. Fast-growing companies are having a hard time keeping up with their hiring and recruiting, while those that are seasonal may need to hire many people very quickly, only for the rest of the year to be slower. Outsourced recruiting helps these companies handle the fluctuations, or could serve as a temporary solution to a temporary problem.

6. They Need to Cut Costs

Companies outsource recruiting to reduce their costs, whether that’s labor costs, capital costs, or perhaps costs from the previous reasons. Perhaps, unfortunately, they can’t justify the staff anymore. Or, the company has already spent too much money on headhunters and recruiting fees that they’re looking for another way. Maybe the organization didn’t do a good job of creating a standardized approach to hiring, so outsourcing will provide the organization needed.

Keep in mind that outsourcing your recruiting is different from outsourcing your human resources, as the latter may include benefits, compensation, employee and labor relations, and legal issues as well as the recruiting. Although outsourcing your recruiting to a recruitment process outsourcing firm includes a cursory look and a revision of those aspects, outsourced recruiting typically looks at the hiring process from sourcing great candidates to the new employee onboarding process.