JOHN WALTER O. PASCUAL
Author
2017
Abstract
The aim of this article is to
explain briefly employer and employee relationship, its nature, and the ethical
responsibilities of an employee towards an organization. Some consequences are
also stated for what will happen if an employee’s moral obligation is
disregarded. The employer-employee relationship is a significant human
relationship of mutual dependency. The relationship between the employer and
employee is laden with moral responsibilities. Both worker and bosses should
guide their choices by basic ethical principles.
Keywords: Employee, Moral, Obligation,
Organization
Introduction
What makes an organization
successful? You’ve heard it all. Sales
profit, good marketing, creativity, vision and even an attractive slogan. But
the underlining factor behind all of this, the thing that makes all of this
possible, is employer-employee relationships. If you’re going to look at it, we
can compare an organization to an engine, and employee and employer being the
wheels. A good relationship between these two wheels will only take the
organization forward (II)
The employer-employee relationship
should not be looked at simply in economic terms. It is a significant human
relationship of mutual dependency that has great impact on the people involved.
A person’s job, like a person’s business, is highly valued possessions that
pervasively affect the lives of the employees and their families. With
stakeholders everywhere, the relationship is laden with moral responsibilities.
Though the pressures of self-interest are very powerful and compelling, both
workers and bosses should guide their choices by basic ethical principles
including honest, candour, respect and caring. (Josephson, 2016). After being
hired by an organization, the new employee will undergo a process of contract
signing. A contract, as defined in the dictionary, is a voluntary, deliberate,
and legally binding agreement between two or more competent parties. (I)
Included therein are the employee’s job description, salary details, and most
importantly, the employee’s contractual obligations towards the organization. However,
the obligations of an employee towards an organization are not limited to what
was stipulated on the contract. Employees also have to fulfil moral obligations
towards the organization. Examples of moral obligations of an employee are
loyalty to the organization, working towards the goals of the organization and
not doing anything that could harm the organization, executing the job with
diligence, and the duty of not disclosing any confidential information about
the organization.
Organization
and Employee Relationship
The Employee-organization
relationship (EOR) is an overarching term to describe relationship between the
employee and the organization. A social
exchange relationship begins with one party bestowing a benefit to another. If
the beneficiary reciprocates, and then a series of benefits exchanges occur,
this creates feelings of mutual obligations between the parties. Over time, the
relationship can then be characterized as one where the exchange partners trust
each other to reciprocate benefits received. But who is the organization? With
the exception of principals, the organization cannot be a party to the
employment relationship except through agents that represent them. Irrespective
of who is taken as an agent of the organization in terms of level of managerial
hierarch, an assumption is made in the EOR that managers, as organizational
agents, act in concert with the interests of the organization. In other words,
managers are assumed to adopt a role relationship in which actions and decision
are guided by and also promote the interests of the organization.
(Coyle-Shapiro & Shore, 2007)
When an employer hires a new
employee, he is not just bringing a new member of the workforce aboard; he is
also starting a new relationship. Because employers and employees often work in
close quarters, they necessarily develop relationships. Managing these
relationships is vital to business success, as strong relationships can lead to
greater employee happiness and even increased productivity. To reap these
benefits, one must keep the dynamics of employer-employee relationship in mind.
(Schreiner).
Relationship
Basics
Generally, employer and employee
relationships should be mutually respectful. The degree of closeness in these
relationships will depend on both the employer and the employee. Some employers
opt to keep their employees at a distance, to ensure that there is no confusion
as to the hierarchy that exists between them. Others prefer to become
friendlier with their employees, seeing this as a way to amp up employee
happiness.(Schreiner).
Mutual
Reliance
The employer-employee relationship
should be one of mutual reliance. The employer is relying upon the employee to
perform her job and in doing so, keep the business running smoothly.
Conversely, the employee is relying upon the employer to pay her and enable her
to support himself and potentially his family, financially. (Schreiner). Reliance, as defined in the business
dictionary, is an acting upon another’s statement of alleged fact, claim, or
promise. Organizations basically hire people to do work for them like
bookkeeping, encoding, and many more processes necessary in the operation of a
business. However, there is more than this seemingly-simple kind of
relationship between the two parties. Are employers giving the right
compensation and benefits that the employees deserve for the work they’re
doing? Are employees doing their best in meeting deadlines, reaching production
targets? Were employees able to zero-out their workload? Or are they slacking
in their workplace that’s why they’re unable to deliver what was expected from
them?
Relationship
Building
Just as with all relationships, the
employer and employee relationship is one that must develop over time.
Employers can promote the building of relationships by speaking candidly with
their employees about their lives, asking them about their families and
learning about their interests. Similarly, employees can promote the building
of this relationship by being open with their employer and sharing information
about themselves and their lives. (Schreiner) In our workplace, we have this monthly touch
point with our superiors. There, we discuss our performance rating. Aside from
that, this is like a “get to know each other”. For example, you have personal problems
which you don’t want to disclose to your other colleagues, you can disclose it
to your superior. After listening, she’ll help you by giving advice or sharing
similar problems they had encountered and how she’s able to overcome it. Aside from that, we can also request
counselling anytime if we have confusions in making big decisions.
We also have “gala” with our
superiors, for example, eating together to some fast food chains after our
shift and teambuilding. I believe these are just some of the ways which could
help in bolstering the relationship between the employer and the employee.
Boundaries
Though the type of employee and
employer relationship that is considered appropriate varies from company to
company, boundaries exist at almost all companies. Generally, it is unwise for
employers to develop romantic relationships with their employees. Similarly,
employers should exercise care to ensure that the relationship they develop
with one employee isn’t notably closer than the relationships they develop with
others, as this can lead to concerns regarding favouritism or similar issues of
unfairness within the workplace.(Schreiner) Employers should embody the idiom “Business is
business” in their every decisions. Business decisions made should be
completely separate from the emotions or personal issues (i.e. a manager fires
an employee to favour the request of another employee which the manager likes ,
or he promotes an employee even if that employee is not a performer while other
candidates for promotion are performers). As for employees, the closeness of
your employer to you must not blur the fact that there is a line that separates
employees and employer.
Moral
Obligations of Employees toward the Organization
If an employer were secretly to
look for a replacement for an employee by conducting interviews behind the
employee’s back, most employees would consider it as an act of betrayal. On the
other hand, when an employee without any notice to an employer secretly looks
for a new job, often covering up interviewing time with deception or lies, is
it any less untrustworthy? When an employer decides to let go an employee, it
is generally thought that the employer should give the employee ample notice or
severance pay. But what of the ethics of the employee who walks into the boss,
office and gives him a very short and unreasonable notice to leave his job. Due
to the discrepancy in power, many employees adopt a double standard that gives
them more leeway than they afford the employer. One aspect of this attitude
draws on the doubtful assertions of necessity. Another is the implicit belief
that if an offer is too good to refuse, there is no moral obligation to refuse.
It does not take much scrutiny to see that these are all self-serving
rationalizations. The moral obligations of an employee include loyalty,
candour, care and respect. The mismatch in economic strength between the
employer and the employee does not change that.
People of character take into account their moral obligations to their
employer before they interview for another job If they know that their
departure will jeopardize the organization, co-workers or customers they should
make it clear at the job interview that they are not available until they have
provided a reasonable transition. If we are not certain how much hardship
departure may cause the principle of respect suggests that the parties most
affected be given an opportunity to participate in a discussion to suggest the
least harmful alternative. Since the employee/employer relationship operates in
the context of business, there is a tendency to play different rules dictated
by who has the leverage, and principles of expediency-what you can get away
with-rather than moral principle. (Alolade & Adofikwu)
Another moral obligation of an
employee towards an organization is Job Completion. Basically, employees are paid to deliver what
they’re required. In our case, we have our daily quotas or production target. Employees should not be slacking inside the
workplace and they should give 100 percent effort to their job at all times
even if there’s no one watching them. Issues of slacking are common on some
government offices. Some employees, especially those of higher position, comes
to office to time in , then leaves immediately going to their other
appointments like car washing and
others.
Another obligation of an employee is to be
honest. Employees should give truthful
information to their employers, and in doing so, help the employer make informed
decisions. Remaining truthful without fail can present a challenge,
particularly when presenting a little white lie would help an individual
advance with her current position. However, honesty is not only the best policy
but it is also the morally correct path on which all employees should
remain.
Another obligation of employees is
that the employee is expected to act in utmost fidelity during the continuance
of his/her employment and act in the employer’s interest at all material times.
Employees basically are like representatives of a company. Imagine being drunk
and provoking while wearing your organization’s shirt in a public place. People
would likely perceive that an employee from company X is drunkard and lack self
control. Employees must live by the core values of the organization they’re
working for, not only inside the workplace but also outside, especially in
public places. As employees of a certain organization, we are also responsible
in keeping the good image of the company we work for.
Next moral obligation is avoiding
conflict of interest. Conflict of interest is defined as a situation in which a
corporation or person with a vested interest in a company becomes unreliable
because of the clash between personal interests and professional interests.
(III) This is a common scenario
especially to employees who have access to the money usage of their
organizations. Government employees usually fall to these temptations. An
example which recently happened is the case of Laoag City Treasury office
wherein Php 85,000,000 was allegedly stolen by the city’s treasurer, before
fleeing to the United States. (Adriano 2017)
Next moral obligation is to follow
all lawful and reasonable requests by the employer. Employees need to follow
all requests and requirements from their employer as long as they are lawful,
within the scope of their job and their employment agreement, and are not
dangerous to the health and safety of the employees. (IV)
Lastly, it is the employee’s moral
obligation to not disclose confidential information of his employer. An example of this confidential information
is trade secrets. Trade secret is defined as any valuable business information
that is not generally known and is subject to reasonable efforts to preserve
confidentiality. (V) An example of these trade secrets is secret recipes of our
favourite fast food chain. For instance an employee from Jollibee was
terminated and later hired by McDo, he/she shouldn’t be divulging the recipes
of the menu offered in Jollibee, as this will not only nullify the competitive
advantage of Jollibee in that specific beverage but may also change the
competitive positions of the two fast food chains.
Conclusion:
When an employer hires a new
employee, he is not just bringing in a new member to the workforce; he is also
starting a new relationship. Sine employers and employees often work in close
quarters, they necessarily develop relationships. Managing these relationships
is vital to business success, as strong relationships can lead to greater
employee happiness and even increased productivity. To reap these benefits, one
must keep the dynamics of employer-employee relationship in mind. The
employer-employee relationship must be based on trust, respect, and mutual
resilience. The relationship between the employer and employee should be
strengthened. However, the line between employer and employee relation must not
be blurred, meaning, employers must keep boundaries to main hierarchical
difference. Also we’re able to cite some moral responsibilities of employees
towards the organization and some of the problems which may occur upon failure
to execute such responsibilities. We should try our best in upholding these
ethical responsibilities even if no one is looking. God gave us knowledge to
know what is morally right and wrong. We should not be wasting this gift, but
instead we should use this for the betterment of ourselves and the world where
we are living.
References:
Josephson, M. (2016) Ethical Responsibilities in the
Employer-Employee Relationshiip-Applying Ethical Principles. Retrieved from http://josephsononbusinessethics.com/2010/12/responsibilities-employer-employee-relationship/
Schreiner, E.(2017) What is an Employer-Employee
Relationship. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/employeremployee-relationship-16737.html
Coyle-Shapiro, J and Shore, L. (2017) The
employee-organization relationship: where do we go from here? Retrieved from
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6610291.pdf
(II)
Importance of Employer-Employee
Relationship(2014)
Alolade, S. &
Adfikwu, A. (2017) The Basic
Rights and Obligations of Parties in Employer/Employee Relationship Retrieved
from http://www.thelawyerschronicle.com/the-basic-rights-and-obligations-of-parties-in-employeremployee-relationship/
(III)
www.investopedia.com
Adriano, L. (2017) Probe Lost Laoag Funds, Ombudsman
Urged Anew Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/