Your role in ethics

Your Role in Ethics

Never underestimate the role you play in implementing an ethical workplace. You may be surprised to learn that you are responsible for policing ethics in your workplace. This means you must be educated and informed on your employer's ethics policy and code of conduct. You must also be vigilant in watching out for ethical violations.

Think about it as being part of your job. That's right - it's part of your job. It's not just your boss's job and not just the role of your human resource department or upper management. Much of the burden for preventing ethical violations falls on you because as an employee, you're in a strong position to know if an ethical breach occurs. After all, you often work very closely with your co-workers, which mean you may be in a position to witness their ethical dilemmas or breaches when your supervisors are not. You're not expected to be a police officer, judge, and jury all in one, but you are responsible for helping to create and maintain an ethical workplace. Through your reading, you'll learn what workplace ethics covers (hint, more than you may think), what actions are ethical and unethical, and how to report potential violations.