How much should key staff get away with?
You are the line manager for a team of people in your company in the finance sector. One of your key staff members is excellent at her job and is known for her ability to generate a high amount of income for the company - none of your other staff members come close to her in terms of this.
You are aware that your company's competitors have made attempts to head hunt this staff member, which she has so far rejected, much to your relief as your department is heavily reliant upon her abilities and you are paid bonuses based on your department's profitability.
However, you are very suspicious that this staff member has been submitting fraudulent expense claims - in some instances perhaps several hundred dollars more than she has actually spent. This would be a tiny fraction of the profits she is generating, but fraudulent nonetheless.
Ethical questions:
- What are the issues?
- Who are the stakeholders?
- What should you do?
- What would you do?
Leave your comments below.
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Comments
Whelp, there's a serious question of deception here, but apart from that there's very little on the line except for money. So the question become 'how to eliminate the deception without compromising the profit margin, ie. losing the employee'.
The imperative is to resolve the deception, or else it may escalate, cause trouble with other employees. This is not necessarily incompatible with keeping the staff member happy and on your company, provided it's done well.
I would talk to her privately and question her about the expenses - this would make it clear that either she had been caught or that such behavior is unacceptable. Egos are likely to be bruised at this point.
I would then immediately give her a pay raise. If her earning value is as high as is described and she's faking expense claims, I'm clearly not paying her enough, especially if she might defect to a competitor. This should heal the ego and make her feel like I care about her and pay attention to her needs, wile also making it clear that fudging behind my back is unacceptable.
Of course if she failed to get the hint and flouted the rules, I would document it, fire her and distribute the evidence to my competitors. But this is a last resort response.
Posted: 6 July 2011 - 8:34pm — GYoung