Don't kill the Messenger

A person’s job, like a person’s business, is a highly valued possession that pervasively affects the lives of the employee and his or her family.
With stakeholders everywhere, the relationship is laden with moral responsibilities.

In addition to the employer’s more obvious obligation to advance and protect the reputation and financial well-being of the company, the employer has a moral obligation to make business decisions in a manner that demonstrates concern for and seeks to advance the welfare of employees.

This includes but goes beyond a duty to treat employees respectfully, to pay them fairly and provide good working conditions. An ethical employer does not think of employees only as a means to an end. Employees must be treated as a major stakeholder group. Ethical employers consciously and consistently treat the promotion and protection of the well-being of employees as an important business obligation and objective.

Companies should be loyal to workers as well as shareholders. Layoffs, plant closings, and other dramatic events of this nature should be handled with caring and sensitivity and as acts of great moral significance. 

The use of euphemisms such as “down-sizing” or “right-sizing” may make managers feel better about the decision to terminate jobs, but it does not change anything from a moral perspective. There are, of course, situations where such actions are justified but they must be implemented in a way that demonstrates genuine concern for employees who will lose their jobs.

Employees should always be treated with respect and it is the company’s obligation to see that individual managers do not abuse their power or mistreat their subordinates. Kill-the-messenger behavior at any management level is improper, as is any active or passive encouragement of dishonest reporting. Employees should feel free to raise ethical or other issues without fear of retaliation.

Employees are entitled to count on the commitments of the employer especially about central matters such as pay, raises, and promotions. Employers who chisel employees, renege on promises, or treat them as if they were simply the instrumentality of the organization’s interests rather than ends in and of themselves fail to meet their moral responsibilities.