Workplace Ethics

The what, the why and the how.

Ethics- you hear this word almost every day, but only a handful of people truly understand what it means and incorporate it into their daily life. It can be as basic as finding the owner of that one rupee coin you found on the street and giving it to them or as seemingly impossible as helping out an enemy in their time of need. Ethics are the rudimentary cogs that build up a person’s character and also contribute to creating your impression in people’s minds. It’s not based on a specific religion or gender. It is not a science. It’s just that semi-colon in a C-program without which a program is incomplete. Wow, I just made myself sound like a complete loser.

While this discussion on ethics might go on all day, we don’t have that kind of time. Today, we shall focus on “workplace ethics”. The cardinal code of conduct between the employer and the employee to ensure a healthy relationship and a productive workplace environment. It ensures that the employees get the utmost respect and makes them love coming to work. This leads to their satisfaction and ultimately, their loyalty to you and your company. There are a bunch of factors that influence a fruitful, gratifying environment in any workplace. As an entrepreneur, it is your duty to have some basic moral code while ensuring that the employees follow the same ethics. Only then will a business truly prosper.

Make them feel right at home- your employees are what make your business function normally and as smooth as a well-oiled machine. Imagine your company to be a Ferrari. It appears to function amazingly but that status remains only as long as you maintain it. If you feel like the engine oil is over-heating or the A.C. is not working, you acknowledge the problem and repair it as soon as possible. In the same way, your start-up will continue to function only if you create a hospitable environment for your employees to feel free to come forward with their issues. If they feel welcomed, they will remain loyal to you and be satisfied with their job environment. If an employee needs to leave early for some personal reasons, as a boss, you should consider their predicament. If you are understanding and sympathetic to their cause, they might not feel the need to be dishonest with you about their reason for their absence. This promotes a healthy bond between the employer and the employee and results in them being faithful to you in the future.

Establish a basic code of conduct:  it’s not cool for someone to show up at 11 in the morning when everyone else reports at 9. There should be some standard protocol to be followed for everybody to ensure proper order on the office floor. As an employer, you should not be indifferent to these occurrences and have appropriate fines or punishments for the employees who are not diligent about their work. On their first day itself, all employees should be oriented about the rules and regulations of the company and also warn them about the repercussions in case they fail to abide by them. Another habit to ensure a good code of conduct among the workers would be to follow them yourself. A boss who shows up late every day will not be taken seriously by his employees and they might feel that it was okay to come late as their boss does so anyway.

As Gandhiji once said- “be the change you wish to see.” You want your employees to be professional in their work, learn and try to be professional yourself. Work just as hard as they are if not more, and your employees will follow your foot-steps. You are the person they look to for inspiration and you must not fail.

Appreciate your employees: hard work should always be recognized. In a work- environment, it refers to appraisals or promotions. Your employees work day and night to meet their deadlines and when they do so, they expect some form of gratitude from the person they did all that for. So, it’s your duty to appreciate their efforts. A good way of doing so would be a salary hike. An increase in pay for anybody in the job industry is most appreciated. It makes their lives more comfortable and secure. A secure home-life always leads to a sense of satisfaction in a person and then they go to work with a renewed sense of vigor and enthusiasm. It really affects the person’s state of mind and that shows in their work output. But care should be taken that you increase their salary only based on the amount of work they do. A person doing absolutely nothing should not get paid more than a person who pretty much did all the work. You, as an employer, must not favor any particular employee or underappreciate someone’s hard work.

These are some small factors that lead to a stable ambiance where people might want to work. In this economy, we need such people who will create good, productive environments in the office to contribute to an average person’s job satisfaction. In the end, work-place ethics can be defined as “good” only if the person working there feels satisfied with their position, secure about their future and above all feels good about coming to work the next day. This should be the minimal list of goals to achieve while creating jobs for people and you should feel proud when you check them off.

Therefore, we can conclude that work-place ethics are pivotal to good entrepreneurship. You should have a well-structured set of rules, a good HR division to solve the issues amongst the employees and above all, you should treat them like family. Coz after all, your business is your baby and they are the nannies taking care of it. 

Sincerely yours,

The Girl With A Quill.