Ethics are the 'unspoken rules' of society. They are what govern how people behave when not bound by law. Questions with this tag should deal with how to handle situations where it is unclear how acceptable a given course of action might be within society (either the society of the workplace, or ...
4
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2answers
535 views
How can I communicate I am leaving a company to someone I hired who hasn't started?
Although I am enjoying my current job, I am planning to move to another company as I would like to face new challenges and learn new technology. However, I think that the problem that I am facing now ...
1
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2answers
190 views
Is it unethical to promote startups in the company? [closed]
I am employed in a mid-sized multi-national software company with 500-1000 employees. In our company, we have several employee organizations (clubs) of different natures (e.g. basketball, swimming, ...
1
vote
2answers
410 views
Is pressure on working while on sick leave considered mobbing?
I work as consultant in multinational corporation even as I do the same work as regular employees. Recently I've got ill. Nonetheless, I worked with it for a month before going on sick leave but my ...
-5
votes
2answers
272 views
If an employer discovered that an employee fabricated stories about his/her family, would that be grounds for termination? [closed]
History is littered with stories about people who falsified resumes and background information. Upon learning about the falsified credentials, many employers chose to terminate these employees. Ethics ...
9
votes
4answers
309 views
What is the best course of action when an employee's significant other applies for the same job as him/her?
I'm in an interesting situation as a project manager. We've recently hired a promising new employee and told her that we were still looking for applicants for the same job. A few days later someone ...
21
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12answers
1k views
What to say when a customer asks if you know something with which you are only partially familiar (in front of your boss)?
A while back a customer asked if I knew a particular technology. At the time I was demonstrating a prototype of a product we were already developing for this customer, and the company had a good ...
5
votes
4answers
256 views
Is it worth to tell a “Samaritan” (company mentor) about my story of particular failure?
Our organization conducts a program called "Your Samaritan", where somebody will support the employee to cope with the situation, listen to the issues and guide. Many of those Samaritans are senior ...
39
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8answers
2k views
Using gym at workplace during work hours
My company has a gym, a nice swimming pool, squash court, badminton court et al but the employees are not allowed to use during working hours. The employees can only use from 6 am - 8 am and from 5 pm ...
21
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6answers
1k views
How can we prevent theft of food from shared fridges by coworkers?
A company with several hundred employees has several office rooms used as kitchens - they are equipped with tables, microwaves, sinks and fridges. Employees leave their food in the fridges and ...
9
votes
4answers
355 views
How to deal with unsupportive coworkers [closed]
Some of our team is located in the US. In someways there is a lot to learn in my job. However, I am facing the following problems regularly:
For any tasks within the work profile, the US guys ...
2
votes
3answers
1k views
How to renege implicit verbal acceptance of a job offer
Side-note: This is subtly different from other similar questions already on the site, so please read before marking as duplicate.
I applied for 2 jobs at the same time -- let's call them Initech and ...
6
votes
4answers
624 views
Bargaining for colleague's salary hike - Is this unethical? [closed]
I'm an almost 2 years experienced programmer, currently working as a team lead in my company. I'm the above average, geek programmer who friends and colleagues generally thinks highly of. And my ...
2
votes
3answers
158 views
Is it unethical to network into a job with a vendor contact? [closed]
My current employer has brought in a couple of firms to pitch us their product offerings in an informal fashion: "We're thinking about doing x with y, can you show us how you might help us with this?" ...
5
votes
3answers
355 views
Should I tell my employer I'm in school?
Should I tell my employer I'm currently in school to complete my bachelors degree? With my current role at the company having a degree will not give me a raise or a promotion. It will also not open up ...
9
votes
4answers
698 views
Should I reimburse my employer for 25 cents worth of personal calls?
I just got a new phone in my office since my cell phone no longer works in my new office.
This month, I called home seven times, at $0.07 per call (<1 minute each, long distance because my wife ...
7
votes
6answers
504 views
How long after a recruiter's introduction is it considered ethical to re-approach a company?
Here's a situation: a recruiter introduces a candidate to a company, and the company is very interested in hiring the candidate.
However, if the process at some point breaks down, how long after this ...
-2
votes
2answers
161 views
How can I research a competitor? [closed]
I'm an engineer in a company building plants. To help improve our products and to improve our market standing our team is supposed to research all of our competitors, gathering data about their ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
What is my obligation to my current employer when changing jobs is imminent but (at this point) not guaranteed?
I am scheduled for a second interview for a job with a company that I would like to have. Changing jobs would require changing cities, which would also mean more opportunity for my spouse. If the ...
7
votes
4answers
324 views
How should I [ethically] divide my billable time, when my work is mutually beneficial to multiple customers?
Consider the circumstance where someone works for multiple customers and charges them on an hourly rate. This is pretty common. However, how should an hourly, contractual worker bill their customers ...
10
votes
3answers
380 views
What obligations do I have when faced with a promotion opportunity that I don't necessarily want?
Background: I started with my company about 4 years ago in a role that was client-facing and was hired as a non-exempt employee. The culture of the firm is that people work a lot of overtime, ...
48
votes
13answers
3k views
Should I go to an interview I don't intend to accept the job (if offered)?
In a conversation with a friend, he slipped that he intended to go to an interview for a senior position in software development. I was surprised, since I was under the impression he liked his current ...
7
votes
5answers
509 views
How to join a partner company without getting in trouble with my current employer?
I work in the tech team of a media company, and we have recently started working with another company who will provide us with an API/service which we will use. Hence, they have a pretty close ...
11
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4answers
521 views
Scope of reimbursable expenses during an interview?
I am submitting reimbursement requests following two interviews. I am particularly interested in general guidelines, but have provided specific examples for context.
I would generally expect that ...
18
votes
4answers
392 views
Ethical concerns when discussing technical issues related to my work, on my personal blog
When I fix issues, some of them are company specific so I try to document them internally. Others are broad and can be applicable to any one. I try to document them in my own blog. I am wondering if ...
22
votes
9answers
3k views
Is it acceptable to use pirated software on the job? [closed]
Is it a acceptable to use pirated software to do your job without telling your boss about it?
I find that rather than getting your employer to buy the software it's easier to use a pirated copy to ...
13
votes
4answers
539 views
What is the proper way to deal with an unethical recruiter?
If you've been in the white-collar job market for very long, you have undoubtedly come across recruiters who exhibit questionable ethics.
The most common way I've seen this manifested is when the ...
