Careless mistake at work - should I fess up or wait it out?

[work26]

I realised yesterday that I made a mistake at work last week. No one else has noticed it yet and there’s probably about a 50% chance that it will be spotted, which will reduce with time. Would you fess up now or just sit tight and hope it’s never discovered? It’s not a major error but it was careless and shouldn’t have happened. My inclination is to say something but I’m worried it will put a black mark against my name. Please help!

Just leave it. Unlikely anyone will notice!!

Tell your manager.
It will be a positive. You are honest. And you care about your work.

I would be really impressed if you told me about it. It would be a strong reflection of your character and I would trust you very much going forward if my trust was not already strong.

@work26
One of my old bosses used to say "don't bring me problems, bring me solutions"
That saying has stood me in good stead for many years and many bosses.
If I mess up, I fess up and offer a solution.
That's my advice fess up and tell them what you propose to do to rectify it

Indeed I told my boss on Friday my job was not to bring him problems

Every manager is different, but personally, I would respect someone who had the integrity to flag up their own mistake. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes and it's how we respond and learn from them that matters.

I once remember a manager who was very new in post knocking on my office door to announce "I've really fucked up". He was mortified at having to admit his mistake to me as his new boss, but I knew from that moment that he had integrity and that I could trust him

One thing in work life I have learned is always to fess up ASAP when you screw up. It will be painful at the time but it is better than covering up. I've only had to do it once, but I'm glad I did. Also I've seen what happens when people don't own it and it can get messy.

I’ve been a manager of teams of varying sizes for about 25 years. One rule I’ve always applied with my direct reports is being clear that I’ll never be cross or disappointed if they take action/attempt to do the right thing but it subsequently turns out to be wrong. All I expect is the issue is identified by them (I don’t want a nasty surprise if somebody else finds it and tells me) and they are proactive in sorting it out, ideally before they even tell me about it. That way if I do need to report to a boss or another department, the message is “someone made a mistake, it was spotted quickly and it’s been sorted, so this is just an FYI”, rather than me presenting them with a live, unresolved problem that they then feel they have to worry about/fix.

I personally would lose trust and respect for any colleague who tried to hide an error or chose to stay quiet in the hope it would go unnoticed.

I am a manager and I 100% prefer it if mistakes are owned up to. Everyone can make a mistake. I distrust people who are not honest. I really hate it if someone else has to escalate something to me about a team member and I'm not already aware of the situation. I'm never harsh about the actual mistake but this really pisses me off not to know

As a manager, own up. People make mistakes, that's not a problem. Hiding mistakes is a problem though

Honestly, I wouldn't mention it

It sounds like one of those things that anyone could have let slip through the net

If you can get away with appearing blissfully unaware if it iS discovered I would sit tight and say nothing.

personally better to hold your hands up either way

in that case your options are pay dumb and be like oh darnit
or you were putting in overtime and realised an error

I'm a manager. If one of my reports came to me and said "I've realised I made a mistake last week [describes mistake] and I've done XYZ to rectify it", I'd thank them for letting me know and respect them for telling me.

Is it not something you sneakily go back into and do it correctly now? Can it be rectified by you without anyone knowing?

If you don't usually make mistakes and you won't get a terrible bollocking or be disciplined then I'd just say I realised just now I made this mistake. But only if I couldn't rectify it without saying anything.

Definitely fess up and rectify it if you can. At my workplace, the worst thing you can do is try to deny, hide or cover up a mistake.