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When you work for an organization that engages in unethical conduct, it is hard to survive without participating in or at least condoning that conduct. So how do you choose an organization that fits your ethics?
Here are four tips for picking an employer that fits your ethics
1. Check the Value Proposition.
Look at the services offered by the organization and ask if they represent a good value to its stakeholders. The most basic ethical responsibility of any organization is to offer services/products that provide good value. If an organization does not offer good value to its stakeholders, it is unlikely to be otherwise ethical.
When you think of highly admired companies such as Apple, Nordstrom or Costco, all of them offer good value to their customers. The same is true of highly admired healthcare organizations such as Mayo Clinic, St. Jude’s, and M.D. Anderson. And organizations that offer good value tend to be prosperous enough to avoid shady practices.
2. Assess the Employment Process.
A key indicator of an organization’s ethics is how it treats individuals seeking employment. For some organizations, the application process is demeaning — waiting in line endlessly to submit non-sensical application. . The message is that you, the applicant, do not matter. A job applicant is in a vulnerable position with no recourse for being demeaned. The organization is showing you how it feels about people. On the other hand, if the application process is respectful, that is a good sign about the organization’s commitment to people.
3. Study the Reward System.
All organizations say they are ethical since this is the right thing to say. But organizations reward employees for the behaviors that they truly value. If the organization rewards employees for performance no matter how it is achieved, that is exactly what it will get. An ethical organization puts its money where its mouth is in terms of compensation. If the reward system focuses only on financially measured performance, don’t expect a lot of time to be spent pondering the ethical implications of its actions.
4. Ask What It Does.
Ask if the activities of the organization are consistent with your ethics. This may seem obvious, but you may blink at what the organization does when you just want a job. If you get a job with an organization whose activities are inconsistent with your ethics, your ethical reservations will hold you back. While you may be able to move through the lower ranks, your reservations will show as you rise in the organization A vegetarian who goes to work for a meat packing company is bound to find trouble.
Remember, once you choose to work for an organization, you will find it hard to completely separate your ethics from the organization’s ethics. It is well worth the time to find an employer for whom you can work with a clear conscience.
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