Unethical as a subordinate to sell candy for fundraiser [closed]

Question

I work in local government and a subordinate. Is it unethical to sell candy for my kids schools fundraiser?

Answer 1

Are there workplace policies against it? Then it's not OK.

As far as ethical, I don't see this as an ethical question in any way provided you don't do anything that pressures other people into buying. In my experience it's not uncommon to simply setup a box of the product with an envelope or box for the money and let people help themselves.

Answer 2

Some places ban all selling of products.

Some places allow limited selling of products. They require passive selling, and they need to approve the charity.

You need to check with HR, the employee handbook, or the local administration.

The higher you are in the organization, the more concern there is that you will be pressuring subordinates to buy your products.

Answer 3

Everyone has been assuming you're asking about selling to coworkers, although you didn't explicitly say that.

Is it unethical to ask other government employees at the office if they'll contribute? Maybe not, but you might annoy them if you're pushy.

Is it unethical to try to sell candy to anyone else while in performance of your job? Probably.

Things you should not do:

• Try to sell candy door-to-door while performing a government census or delivering the mail
• Try to sell candy to customers while working the desk at the DMV
• Try to sell candy to visitors while doing maintenance at a state park

In those situations, not only would you be selling products for a third party on government time, you also might make people feel uncomfortable or cornered. For example, if you tried to sell candy from behind the counter at the DMV, customers might be concerned that you'd "misplace" their paperwork if they didn't buy from you.

Answer 4

I guess this could depend on how it is done. My coworkers ask for contributions to fundraisers for their kids. The way they do it does not feel unethical to me. They leave a form to order things in a common area and anyone interested can fill out the form. There is no verbal promotion or coercion to fill out the form. If however they kept the form in their office or on them, and asked me if I wanted to order something every time I ran into them, I would feel pressure. I'm also in a more senior position and generally do not feel much social/peer pressure (unless it's in my face), so that could be affecting my decision too. I second what others said about workplace regulations and rules though. To make sure I agree with those, I usually check with my supervisor.

Answer 5

(Remark: you asked about "unethical", not about against the rules or unprofessional - other answers address this more than sufficiently)

Depends a lot on your role and the specific setting. Depends also your professional behaviour.

• Do you actually make decisions as part of your job which in any way approve public money to the any project/person/topic there? Then doing anything where you touch money given by these persons in any private function is a big no-no

• are you sure that you can in the professional life even dodge the appearance that you personal relationships with people affect your professional behaviour (e.g. addressing issues of somebody before somebody else or spending time having small talk while another person may be waiting)?

• Can you limit that in scope in a way that only a selected number of people is confronted with it? (i.e. not persons whom you don't know at all)?

Think about how your workplace would run if too many people too often ignored these questions.

Answer 6

Unethical? No.

Unlawful? Yes, no, maybe. Check with the HR department and/or your manager, they are the best ones to answer from the organization policy (or legality) point of view and provide approvals accordingly.

Answer 7

It is unethical if you use the fact that the buyers are colleagues, and the fact that they know who is buying or not buying, to make sales. Interesting that you ask “as a subordinate”. It is more unethical for your manager, because people may buy to avoid retaliation from their manager.

It is ethical if I’m 100% free to buy or not to buy as I wish, if you don’t pester me, don’t expect explanations, don’t tell me that my colleague bought, don’t pull a face or make remarks if I don’t buy.

Apart from that you should check what your company thinks of it. It will take time that the company pays you for.

Answer 8

Most organizations I have worked with, tend to turn a blind-eye for things that are non-partisan Fundraising. By Non-Partisan, I mean Non-Religious, Non-Political and Non-Controversial. School Fundraising is generally accepted to be in that group, unless the school is a private school with a particular affiliation.

It also depends on how/where you are intending to sell these. As an IT Professional who works in an Office, I have often fallen victim to people who have boxes of Fundraising chocolates on their desk or other assorted delicious treats.

However, my position is generally not Customer Facing/Public Facing. Having a box of Sweets/Lollies/Chocolates in a Back office on your desk is one thing, whereas having them on the Front Counter of a Government Organization could be construed as that entity endorsing that particular school.

The other question is whether or not you are pushing sales. As above - having a box on the desk, fine. Going round to your co-workers every 5 minutes asking if they want to buy one (Hyperbole, of course) - not fine.

My suggestion would be that if you are working in a role that doesn't interact with the general public, then put it on your desk and leave it at that. If your Manager approaches you about it - tell them it's just a School Fundraiser, if they object, then you'll have your answer.

If you are public facing, then you probably want to run it by your manager first - and they will probably decline as stated above.

If your intent is to actively go around and try and sell them, then you are more likely to get friction.