Ethical Issues in HR

Almost every organisation have defined a set of rules and regulations known as 'code of conduct' which is to be strictly followed by every employee. This practice is followed by the company to avoid any kind of conflicts in future. You will also be curious to know that you are going to be an ethical employee or not. Well, let me tell you ethics is just recommending concepts of right and wrong.

The corporate world is full of competition. Some people are happy and enjoying their job and some are unhappy and planning to quit their job. All of them are doing their day to day job but some of them are doing some activities which may be or intentionally or  unintentionally is making them unethical. They are not realizing that they are doing some "UNETHICAL ACTIVITIES" which can lead them towards termination from their job.

Here are the top 4 things which you should avoid while working in a company:

1. Violation of internet usage policies: A company's internet usage policy provides necessary guidelines and information to its employees on how they should access the internet in such a way that the company can get maximum output from an employee. In IT sector, various types of violation by employees includes:

• Usage of social media during working hours
• Visiting websites that are not related to the company's work
• Downloading pirated software or copying files that are unauthorized.
• Stealing someone else's password and then disclosing it or using it without informing the person.
• Sending or posting discriminatory posts, images or videos via the company's e-mail or the internet.
• Sending or posting any information that is defamatory to the company, its products or services, colleagues and customers.

If we get into statistics, according to a Forbes study, 64% of employees visit non-work related websites daily, and wasted the most of their working time on these social media sites:

Facebook   52%

Twitter 17%

Instagram 11%

Snapchat 4%

If you are doing any of these activities then you will be considered as an "Unethical employee" and in case, if you are caught by your boss then it is going to create a huge trouble for you to survive in that company.

2.  Theft by employees: When we talk about theft, it is not just about stealing a pen, pencil or A4 sheet paper from the office. Nowadays, employees are also engaged in data theft. This can create a huge risk for companies, especially the financial services and the technology companies as their sensitive information can also be at risk.

Now, if I talk about the examples:

• In a recent case, the Canada Life Insurance Group alleged a former senior executive for transferring significant and confidential information to another company.
• There is another example of SunTrust Bank Inc. They reported against an employee who is alleged to have stolen important information of about 1.5 billion customers and provided it to a "criminal third party".

Hence, it's a matter of concern for the companies to protect their data not only from outside cyber threats but also from insider employees. Employees should not engage in such unethical activities.

If an employee caught red-handed then he/she can be terminated from the company.

3. Company's valuable time-wasting activities: You won't believe almost 90% of the employees admit that they are wasting the company's time. But the point is that its really sad for the companies who are small and their business totally depends upon the workability of the employee and the employees are not being efficient.

Let me show you the sad scenario that according to the survey by salary.com :

• Almost 35% of the employees are wasting time online playing games or shopping.
• About 43% admits that they are chatting with their colleagues instead of working.
• Online shopping during working hours

Company can take some necessary steps like offering incentives to their employees, increasing their break time, having regular meetings to check their daily progress and most importantly the boss can set an example by being the most efficient person in the company because the boss always sets the tone of his entire team. But, the point is an employee should always keep in his/her mind that he/she has to be ethical towards the company and he/she has to provide maximum value to the company.

4. Abusive Behavior in a company: It becomes really tough for the employees to survive when abusive behavior is followed in the company. It affects the employees both physically and mentally. Abusive behavior can be in the form of discrimination, in the form of harassment, in the form of bullying or in the form of violence.

• Discrimination is always unfair and it can be on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age or genetic information.
• Harassment is when an employee is welcomed by the boss or a co-worker and it is in the form of physical assaults, threats, and intimidation. It can also be in the form of offensive jokes, name-calling, offensive nicknames, pornographic images on a laptop and offensive pictures or objects.
• Bullying in the workplace ranges from isolating to verbally threatening fellow workers and it can cause anxiety, depression, fear and post-traumatic disorder symptoms in their victims.
• Violence in the workplace usually in the form of physical abuse or threat, which creates a risk to the health and safety of an employee or multiple employees.

All these behaviors are never accepted and these are completely unethical. Employees should always respect each other in a company so that a healthy and ethical working environment can be formed. After reading all the 4 points you have understood that as an employee you must have to avoid these 4 activities because these activities will destroy ethics from your life, it will affect the company's growth as well as you will be liable to hurt someone both physically and mentally. As a result, you will face an adverse working environment in your company and it can lead towards your termination and legal action. In the end, I just want to say that I believe you are not going to involve in any such activities.

Thank you.