Office ethics are a set of codes and values that help determine the right choices and behaviors in the workplace. Companies should set values and rules to avoid ethical dilemmas, and employees should understand them. Basic office ethics include treating others with respect and not violating employment laws. It is important to understand a company’s code of ethics before starting a job.
Office ethics can refer to a set of codes and values and rules that derive from them, which help determine the right choices and behaviors in the context of the office. These can vary according to the office and are mainly based on the core values that the office wants to express and that employees must follow. Numerous things may be included in office ethics or some companies do not clearly define an ethics policy. The latter position can occasionally cause problems and employees may have to make their own decisions when faced with ethical dilemmas, since these ethics do not always align with one’s moral position.
The wise company tends to set values that it wants employees to understand and follow, and moreover, they can set rules so that few moral decisions are needed. If a core value is making sure all workers feel comfortable in the workplace, for example, one rule you might follow is not soliciting products from outside the job. This could cause discomfort for some employees, making them feel they cannot escape a marketing environment while they work, and the company could respond by banning a practice that would go against one of its core values.
With the same core value, office ethics can tell people how to behave towards each other. Clearly, making sure people feel comfortable means treating each other with respect, not soliciting others for sexual activity or romantic relationships, being responsible for work so it is not passed on to others, and keeping the workplace clean. Many rules may be generated from basic office ethics, or some companies expect employees to infer rules from basic assumptions about how a company defines what is good or moral.
There are certain office ethics that apply to nearly any office, at least in theory. It is usually considered wrong to do things such as take home office supplies, express rudeness, over the phone or in person, to customers and/or behave in any way that violates regional employment laws. These behaviors can lead to warnings or firings, depending on the abuse being perpetuated.
Other activities that are at least frowned upon include using work time to conduct personal activities, such as emailing friends, contributing to a Facebook page, or making long distance calls with family. Some offices may allow some of these activities to some extent. Not everyone does, and these behaviors could earn you sharp reprimands or eventual termination of employment.
Since office ethics can only be thought of as examples, it is helpful for employees to understand a company’s code of ethics and core values on their first attempt to find a job. It should be noted that not all offices adhere to a defined set of ethics and this can be quite easy to tell in your first days on the job. The flagrant disregard of ethics by employees and supervisors suggests that the code doesn’t actually work and could perhaps be ignored by the new employee. On the other hand, a person who breaks a code doesn’t suggest that an entire office does it, and he shouldn’t be held up as an example of how to behave in the workplace.
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