workplace moral question

alright, time for another workplace moral question

a member of your team is good at their job. they have ambitions which match their potential but for various reasons to do with the state of the company you work for they are being held back a little at the moment. the industry you work in is booming and you know they could move towards their ambitions quicker (be it a promotion, international opportunities, broader exposure) if they changed companies. However, it is in the companies best interest to maintain people like this in its skill pool

they ask you for career advice. does your advice reflect whats best for them or best for the company?

does your answer change if it happens in free time or company time?

Encourage them to go where they will excel unless you can provide a equally promising future.

Holding someone back for selfish reasons not only hurts another man's life and career, but could also easily breed resentment or lassitude.

Lying or misinforming to keep people from quitting is not a tenable policy.

The answer stays the same regardless of when asked.

Assuming your pay check comes from the same place theirs does, you encourage them to stay. It's called paid loyalty.

Be truthful about their prospects for the long term within your company. Admit ,if asked, you do not know for sure whether their prospects would be better anywhere else. The answer is the same whatever the time.

Originally Posted by Peak and Pine

Click to expand...

Assuming your pay check comes from the same place theirs does, you encourage them to stay. It's called paid loyalty.

Errr, not these days.

Generally a company won't hesitate to replace someone, as everyone is pretty much expendable, unless you specialise in a niche occupation.

Everyone has the right to better themselves. If loyalty played a part, everyone would be in the same job with the same company for 30 years. I left my last job to move onto a much better position with a competitor. Loyalty did not even enter my mind. In one case my manager even encouraged me to go and get something better.

To the OP, I was put in the same position a couple of months ago. In my case, I advised her she probably would be better off in another company. She just scored a top job with a huge pay increase doing the same work she was doing at the place I am at. Excellent outcome. The company I work at is already lining up a replacement. Just be honest with the person and the answer shouldn't change whether in free time or company time.

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

Click to expand...

alright, time for another workplace moral question

a member of your team is good at their job. they have ambitions which match their potential but for various reasons to do with the state of the company you work for they are being held back a little at the moment. the industry you work in is booming and you know they could move towards their ambitions quicker (be it a promotion, international opportunities, broader exposure) if they changed companies. However, it is in the companies best interest to maintain people like this in its skill pool

they ask you for career advice. does your advice reflect whats best for them or best for the company?

does your answer change if it happens in free time or company time?

Depends on how far I'll go and what I'll get out of it. If it's my company, or his staying will help me significantly in yrs to come, then sure I encourage him to stay.
If I gain nothing (or not much), then I'll encourage him to look around.

It may sound as if I'm lacking loyalty but sorry, looking out for #1 is my main aim; and ditto for the company - it will look out for itself first and always.

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

Click to expand...

alright, time for another workplace moral question

a member of your team is good at their job. they have ambitions which match their potential but for various reasons to do with the state of the company you work for they are being held back a little at the moment. the industry you work in is booming and you know they could move towards their ambitions quicker (be it a promotion, international opportunities, broader exposure) if they changed companies. However, it is in the companies best interest to maintain people like this in its skill pool

they ask you for career advice. does your advice reflect whats best for them or best for the company?

does your answer change if it happens in free time or company time?

Nope. I used to love taking long cigarette or booze breaks at my old job advising my co-worker on switching jobs or heading to law school. **** I used to encourage rewriting resumes and coverletters while in the restroom. If a company sucks or doesn't take damn good care of its workers, all is fair.

Originally Posted by Peak and Pine

Click to expand...

Assuming your pay check comes from the same place theirs does, you encourage them to stay. It's called paid loyalty.

Individuals are generally more loyal than companies these days. If the OP encourages the guy to do what's best for himself he will probably be pretty grateful about it and could possibly even help the OP with finding a new job or networking someday.

I have been encouraged by bosses to look elsewhere to move my career along. Pay it foward, and it might pay you back some day.

I think this is a question of ethical behaviour, not morality.

Originally Posted by Syl

Click to expand...

Depends on how far I'll go and what I'll get out of it. If it's my company, or his staying will help me significantly in yrs to come, then sure I encourage him to stay. If I gain nothing (or not much), then I'll encourage him to look around. It may sound as if I'm lacking loyalty but sorry, looking out for #1 is my main aim; and ditto for the company - it will look out for itself first and always.
So... you would mislead or offer less than your best opinion if it benefited you?

Unless you own the company, in which case you'd have a strong motivation to keep him/promise him advancement on a certain track, you should definitely talk to him in confidence and tell him to move on.

Originally Posted by culverwood

Click to expand...

Be truthful about their prospects for the long term within your company. Admit ,if asked, you do not know for sure whether their prospects would be better anywhere else. The answer is the same whatever the time.
This. Anything less and the person will lose respect for you.

Originally Posted by downwithianbrown

Click to expand...

Unless you own the company, in which case you'd have a strong motivation to keep him/promise him advancement on a certain track, you should definitely talk to him in confidence and tell him to move on.

+1.

Originally Posted by dtmt

Click to expand...

Individuals are generally more loyal than companies these days. If the OP encourages the guy to do what's best for himself he will probably be pretty grateful about it and could possibly even help the OP with finding a new job or networking someday.


This. Who knows, you give them some advice, they move on to the other job and become more prosperous, then you get invited along into a better job at their place in the next few years.