Question

What should you do if you suspect your boss of unethical business practices?

Answer 1

The other day, someone asked me about the last time my ethics had been tested at work and how I reacted.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. It’s a good question, and I wanted to answer it. Still, I hesitated to reveal too much about some of the less-than-honest bosses I’ve reported to in the last two decades.

These are bosses who lied, gossiped about their staff to other staff, broke confidences, fudged numbers to governmental agencies, botched payroll tax withholdings and covered it up, and willfully and recklessly turned a blind eye to leadership abuse — for starters.

Answer 2

- Ethical challenges can be complex; your response will depend to a great extent on the importance or quality of the ethical breach and on your personal situation. Here are some tips for managing situations when they arise.

- Small, simple ethical breaches may result from employees being lazy, unobservant, or unengaged. Often, the best way to address such issues is to avoid personal confrontation but instead to set clear general policies and respond publicly when they’re not followed. Most employees who have a problem pointed out find it’s easier to behave appropriately than to argue the point.

- More serious ethical breaches may require a more considered response. If you are reliant on your job for an income and your supervisor or coworker is doing something that is unethical but not illegal, you will have to decide whether you can afford to speak up and risk losing your job. If you do decide to speak up, carefully document the problem before saying anything. Be sure you have all your facts straight and can prove your point, especially if you’re the only one who knows about the issue.

- If the issue you’re confronting is illegal (embezzling, breaching the Equal Opportunity laws, sexual harassment, etc.) you must say something—but there is also (in most cases) a clear system for documenting the problem and bringing it to the attention of Human Resources. You may not need to reveal that you are the “whistle blower;” Human Resources will pick up the ball and handle the next steps.

- No matter what the level of ethical concern, be sure you don’t participate just to “get along.” If you truly believe that you’re being asked to do something unethical, make it clear that you are not willing to be part of the problem. While that may be risky at some level, it’s far riskier to be an accessory to immoral or illegal activity.