Everyone has the right to be treated fairly and equally, this is especially true in the workplace. All organizations must have ethical standards put into place and most governments have even gone so far as to implement laws ensuring the fair treatment of all individuals. As an employee to any company or organization it is a duty to follow these sets of rules and guidelines and is even implemented within the job description. Those who violate these rules and guidelines are often subject to the consequences which can take forms in many different types of punishment even including termination. As a manger it is our duty to ensure that the workplace follows these rules and regulations and that the decisions made within the work environment are moral and ethically correct.
Managers are tasked with the duties of dealing with a company’s day to day operations while ensuring that all moral and ethical issues are dealt with in a legal and upstanding way. Many large companies and small business’s go through great lengths to ensure that their managers are well informed and educated in the legal and proper ways of dealing with ethical problems. Most managers have to undertake educational processes to train them on how to deal with issues that may arise in the work environment, not just with employees but with customers as well. Many companies are coming to an understanding that ethics and morality are one in the same and work best when followed under a strict code or guideline. The termination or treatment of an employee, if done unfairly, can leave the company left open to lawsuits, ridicule and a bad reputation which can cost the company business or customers. To ensure this does not happen, the process of dealing with employees can be a long and tedious task which a manger has to make sure all aspects of the decision have been considered and all legal protocols have been followed.
When dealing with an employee that has to be disciplined or terminated it is important to follow some simple rules that can have huge consequences if not followed, some of these rules include making sure that any discussion with the procedures or conduct of an employee should be done in private, away from other employees or customers.
Reprimanding an employee in public or in front of other employees can be humiliating and disrespectful this also reflects the character of the manager showing that they can have no regard for the employees that are working for the business. All employees should be given the opportunity to change their behavior or conduct once notified by the manager, often times an employee does not know what they are doing is wrong and just need to be notified, this gives the employee the chance to correct that behavior and become a better employee and a valued member of the company. Ensuring that the discipline of an employee or the termination is just and fair should always be followed, make sure that the actions taken by the manager upon the employee are valid and deserved. An example of this would be an employee working in a customer service oriented job that smokes cigarettes, according to laws that employee has the right to smoke if they so choose as long as it is not during working hours. If a customer complains about that employee smelling like cigarettes then it would be unfair to terminate that employee who smokes only before or after work. I have personally witnessed a time when such an occurrence happened and even though the employee followed all rules and regulations the customer complained to management because she could smell cigarette smoke on the employee’s clothes. The manager then chastised the employee saying they had a complaint about smelling like cigarette smoke and they were being sent home for the rest of the day, resulting in loss of wages. In my determination that was a very unfair decision by management and the employee was punished for a decision they had in their personal life to smoke at home or during