Coworker Abuse 2

[troubled1]

I need some advice....

Recently a co-worker has started their own company and uses company resources and time not to mention 2 hour lunches to go to the clients offices to resolve support issue. They are on the phone 3-5 times a day taking cell phone calls, emails remote help.

What is the ethical thing to do, I have a good relationship with this person but I diasgree with what they are doing and how others see their use of time. On the other hand I dont want to be black balled.

Middle Managment has an idea, but it has been months and nothing has been done...

Am I being to sensitive, what would you do? I am really torn here.

 

[MortenA]

If you are not his senior and dont have shares in the company then dont do nothing!

At least - dont do anything without talking to the person privately first! He may have some arrangement that you dont know about? At least he needs a fair warning. And also you will have to think about why this bothers you. Is it because it makes your job more difficult and so on...

Best regards

Morten

 

[rnd2]

It's called stealing.
Quite simply, the person is taking time and money from the company who in good faith pays that person the hours they are "working".
Unless that person has obtained permission from the owner(s), they are stealing.
If you are uncomfortable with what is happening and I personally commend you for that, don't waste your time with middle managers. They are a motley crew at best and have their own agendas. Make sure your facts are bullet proof and go directly to the owner or the owners representitive.

 

[RDK]

I am always amazed that people would do these things or let them slide but would never think of stealing a box pf paper clips or letting a co-worker steal something tangible form the employer.

It is stealing of things that are more valuable than pens and paper clips. Time is worth a lot more than the average office supplies and the lost opportunity time is worth more than the person is paid for it.

Remember we are in an industry where a normal charge out rate is 2 to 2.5 times total salary costs. A person making $80,000 per year or $40 per hour can steal $100 per hour talking on the phone.

That’s one of the big reasons why I am against people taking work on the side. They take a quick call or two and end up stealing hundreds if not thousands of dollars of time from their employer.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[BJC]

You need more information.
I have known engineers who worked for a contractor and did part time work. The part time work brought in construction projects.
I have worked with people wo belonged to a volenteer medical emergency team. When there were disasters in the world they spent time on the phone coordinating activites and material. They cost the company money but the company was supportive.
IF they let him do it, find out why.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Your supervisor gets paid to detect and deal with abuses. You don't.

If you decide to bring up the issue with anyone, be prepared to explain how you have time to watch and listen to your co-worker all day if you are doing your own work.

I'm not asserting that your co-worker's behavior is ethical, or that you are not ethically bound to report it; I'm reminding you that messengers are often terminated.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MrMojito]

Is the other person aware that you know? Perhaps you could mention to him/her that they are putting you in a difficult ethical position? Does the company know for certain? Is it possible that the company discovers what this individual is doing and then hears that you knew also and didn't inform the company? How will the company then view you? Think about all of this and make the decision that you are most comfortable with.

 

[Haf]

I agree with rnd2 and RDK, and would take it a step further. Not only does your colleague's behavior appear to be wrong, but you have an ethical responsibility to do something about it.

Exactly how you should handle this is somewhat dependent on how your company works and operates, but here's what I would do:

Politely confront your colleague about the behavior you've noticed and remind (or inform) him that his actions are unethical. This will give him a chance to correct the behavior or to defend it, on the off chance that he does have an arrangement with your employer.

If the behavior is not satisfactorily defended and does not change, you have an obligation to report it to your management. Your management then has an ethical responsibility to do something about it. If nothing is done, I would go higher up the chain or to your company's ethics department, if they have one (most large companies do).

Good luck.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The first thing I would do is talk to your co-worker. Let him/her know that "Middle Management" know about his activities & that his job is in jeopardy & could have legal/criminal consequences.

How do you know that Middle Management "has an idea"? Have you spoken with them about it? I would only inform them if, after speaking with your co-worker, his/her activities continued.

If you have done the above two things, your ethical requirements have been met ... even if nothing is done to curtail your co-workers activities. Anything beyond that is simply asking for trouble for yourself.

I do not agree with taking it further than your immediate supervisors. If you go over their heads, you risk getting them in trouble, which would of course come back on you.


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
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[buzzp]

If you think management knows about it then they probably do. Therefore, I would do nothing. Perhaps they are waiting for the right time to terminate this guy or maybe he is so good that they are overlooking this in hopes he will finish some big project for them before he makes his exit. Who knows.
Running up to upper management and complaining, I think, would be a mistake. This is not something that upper management should be handling unless your supervisor is at fault. In any case, saying something to your co-worker or upper management would do more harm to you, than good. If they don't know, they will soon enough. I would consider talking to my supervisor about it, without being negative.

 

[kchayfie]

I would consider posing a similar question to your supervisor as you've asked here, along the lines of 'is it OK for him to be doing this? it takes up a lot more of his time than I would have thought it should'

 

[RDK]

There are a lot of ways that you can bring the issue up in ways that won’t get back to you if the guy has the boss’s knowledge and permission..

Joke around about it. If you make a joke about it and the boss overhears then you are not snitching.

Ask the boss if the guy is working on a secret project because he spends a lot of time on the phone discussing <insert topic> and ask if you can take on some of the load to help.

If you can somehow work things so that the boss “discovers” the guy doing the outside tasks then you are out of it as well. (Have the receptionist transfer a call from an outside client to the boss by mistake?)


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[MedicineEng]

If nobody cares, do the same. Open you own company.
If it is unbearable to you, leave.

"In Rome, be Roman"

 

[HVAC68]

A word of caution before you blow the whistle. Your middle-level manager or supervisor could probably be a part of this. I have seen this happening in the past. If they are not, and your co-worker may soon have problems with his own performance in the company and may get in trouble with the manager/employer.

If you are his good friend, and you believe that he also considers you to be his good friend, then you can probably have a talk with him on a one-to-one basis and warn him.

Otherwise, if I were you, I will just keep quiet. If it becomes unbearable to continue, get transferred to another department.

HVAC68

 

[cadnutcase]

I agree with HVAC68 to be very careful.

I used to work for a very well known large E&C company back in '94. I could never figure out why my boss's boss was so against technology.

This all happened before my time.
Turns out he hired a middle manager who in turn hired a R&D guy. So middle manager and R&D guy were real hush hush about the project he was working on. 9 months later R&D guy leaves and two weeks later middle manager guy leaves. Couple of months after that those two guys had their own company set up across the street and were marketing there own engineering software.

Well needless to say the lawsuits started flying and the whole thing ended up costing everybody a whole lot of money.

I left this pretty vague because I don't know exactly how much is true and didn't want to accuse anybody of anything because the names are well know now in the industry now.

Moral of the story is if you don't know all the parties involved, it might be best to seperate yourself as far as possible from the whole situation.

Cadnutcase

 

[Haf]

cadnutcase,

I don't agree with your "moral of the story."

To me, the moral of your story, as it applies to this thread, is that things could have been a lot different if someone would have done something after noticing suspicious behavior (assuming that someone did notice what was going on).

Also, stealing information from your employer to start your own company is a bit different than conducting personal business on your employer's time.

Haf

 

[cadnutcase]

Haf,

To you second point, both individuals are stealing time from there employer in my case and troubled1's case.
Sometimes time is worth a lot more than physical items.
In troubled1's case, the employee has his own business that he is using company time on to promote.

As far as your first point is concerned, in this case I was told that nobody noticed what was going on. How many times does anyone outside an R&D department know any key details on what's going on inside it. I know at my current company our R&D guys are very hush hush on what they are working on for obvious reasons.

Cadnutcase

 

[Tomfh]

I don't think you should do anything. Superiors are aware of the issue, it isn't your concern.

 

[rnd2]

Below are some extracts of what troubled1 wrote.
I am going to assume that what was written is indeed accurate.
Extract 1) Recently a co-worker has started their own company.
Note, the co-worker is not thinking about starting it, this is a done deal thus the co-worker is committed to the success of the new business. Anyone out there who actually have started their own business will know the degree of committment needed to grow that business. Frankly in this instance, a nice cozy chat is going to achieve very little. Just like an accountant with a gambling addiction it already is virtually out of the person's control to act in the host company's interest.
Extract 2) Middle management has an idea but it has been months and nothing has been done....
My take on that is middle management is stupid -it does not know what is going on-, weak -it does know what is going on so just fence sits-, or maybe are even themselves involved. If any are correct, the company does not need that individual either.
Extract 3) How others see their use of time.
Others see a parasitic co-worker being rewarded by a company. A Bad, Bad message.
In my post dated 5 Jan 06 I said, "make sure your facts are bullet proof"
because, if troubled worked in my company and came to me and his information was found to be correct he would probably get a raise and or promotion. The co-worker would be fired immediately for mis-conduct and the middle manager would have some heavy explaining to do to justify the lack of action, otherwise no job either.

 

[rnd2]

By the same reasoning, prospects not good for troubled1 if the information turned out to be fanciful i.e. the co-worker had obtained permission and was found to be acting in the company's interest.