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What would you do? Your weekly ethical dilemma challenge

Saturday 6 April, 2019
by Jodi O'Callaghan
In recent months you have been working very long hours and spending a considerable amount of time away from your family.

In recent months you have been working very long hours and spending a considerable amount of time away from your family. However, you have taken two weeks off after the Christmas period and have promised your partner you will be enjoying some quality time with your family during the break. However, on the second day of your holiday you receive a message on your phone that your boss would like you to come into the office as something important has come up in relation to a proposal you have been working on - it sounds like this could make a serious dent into your time off. You have some concerns about job security given the economic crisis and have heard rumours that your company will be laying people off soon.

What would you do? What ethical considerations would you give to your decision-making? Why? Why not?

We encourage you to post your answers in the comments so we can create a healthy discussion, with the aim of learning from our peers, becoming aware of differing perspectives and challenging our own biases.

If you would like to submit an ethical dilemma to feature in an upcoming weekly challenge please email: dilemma@bfso.org.

Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

 

Comments

There are 2 comments for What would you do? Your weekly ethical dilemma challenge.

What would you do? Your weekly ethical dilemma challenge

Friday 5 April, 2019
by Happy Gilmore
In days gone by I would have dropped everything and rushed in - but priorities change. My first mistake was to leave the phone on. Second mistake was checking the message. One approach to this would be to call the boss and determine how urgent is it really and whether or not someone else can deal with it. Management should be allocating resources accordingly whilst other staff are on leave to cover. Also leave is important for people to recuperate. Management should not be using fear of job losses as a tool to deal with issues and get staff to come in whilst on leave. Anyway, there is no way I can make into the office as the family and I are in Bali.
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What would you do? Your weekly ethical dilemma challenge

Monday 8 April, 2019
by Martin Pearce
A well planned leave. with detailed WIP and handover requirements would ensure something "urgent" is unlikely. Therefore if it is truly urgent and can't be addressed by the people you have briefed before leaving, then you would try and determine what is the issue and assist in agreeing an action plan in your absence. I think too often the easy way out for those left in charge is to revert when an issue arises so you also need to encourage some ownership and management as well.
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