Ethics at Work

[Phoenix84]

Do you have any ethical standards that you have meet at work? For example, do you have any policies on gifting or "favors" to or from vendors.  Do you have any personal ethical rules at work?

I work in the government, we aren't allowed to give or receive gifts over $10 at work.  It's even more stringent in my official duties.  As a regulator, I can't accept anything but water from the people I inspect. I'm encouraged not even to eat lunch with people I'm inspecting due to the appearance of conflict of interest.

But as I understand it in private industry, "wining and dining" and giving gifts to clients is pretty common.

What say you? 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

ut as I understand it in private industry, "wining and dining" and giving gifts to clients is pretty common.

What say you?

It really depends on the company.  Some private industries are as stringent as the government.

[Deleted]

We have a lot of rules about gifts and things where I work. When we have employees that have tragedies in their personal lives we usually get cards for them and employees voluntarily contribute money to be placed in the card. Sometimes the money buys something for the recipient, sometimes we just gift them the money itself. Technically, it's against the rules but in all the years I've been there, no manager has told us we had to stop. Some of them even participate.

Recently, I had a co-worker that lost her parents to a murder suicide. Another co-worker put a stop to the contributions before anybody even got it together, by threatening to "tell it". Even though it is against the rules, it ticked me off because she was just being ugly and spiteful.

Other than that, the rules about gifts don't really affect me because I don't deal directly with customers or vendors. I've had to tell more than one exasperated customer that no, I can't just take their things into the building with me, they have to go around to the customer entrance even though they're just dropping something off.

We can also be fired for conduct that is "unbecoming" to an employee of the organization even if it happens during our personal time. It's vague language but it pretty much means act like you have some sense. I'm only aware of it having been enforced with the rare employess that get convicted of crimes.

[souldoubt]

I'm in the private industry but like The Walk said it depends on the company and industry.  We're subject to a lot of rules and regulations by various government entities as are many of our clients.  Some prospects or clients we can spend any amount on while others can't even take a bottle of water without reimbursing us.   

[muttleynfelix]

We have an ethics policy and while it isn't that stringent, it is pretty strict about gifts we can accept and give. We.do quite a bit of work for the feds so a lot of our policies mirror the guidelines that make sense for our industry.

The fact that my brother is a director of public works for a town actually is considered a conflict of interest for my company to do work with that town according to my company's ethical handbook.

[msventoux]

Ethical standards are part of our initial and ongoing licensure, so yes.  Our firm also has additional standards. 

[wvugurl26]

We have all the rules about gifts mentioned in the OP. We are flat out forbidden from eating with the people we are auditing. You also can't own the stock unless it's in a mutual fund. Financial disclosures are required annually at the manager and above level and for all investigators. All outside work related to professional duties must be pre-approved and reported on annually. That covers a whole range of things including speaking at conferences. We have two ethics officers who are overseen by the head lawyer.

Additionally as a CPA I'm required by my licensing board to have ethics training every cycle and abide by their rules of conduct.

People have been fired for conduct unbecoming as pink described above.

[Phoenix84]

Apr 7, 2015 19:36:46 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

We have an ethics policy and while it isn't that stringent, it is pretty strict about gifts we can accept and give. We.do quite a bit of work for the feds so a lot of our policies mirror the guidelines that make sense for our industry.

The fact that my brother is a director of public works for a town actually is considered a conflict of interest for my company to do work with that town according to my company's ethical handbook.

That's a good point. The Feds also have rules about not having family be your boss.

[Phoenix84]

Apr 8, 2015 6:31:42 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

We have all the rules about gifts mentioned in the OP. We are flat out forbidden from eating with the people we are auditing. You also can't own the stock unless it's in a mutual fund. Financial disclosures are required annually at the manager and above level and for all investigators. All outside work related to professional duties must be pre-approved and reported on annually. That covers a whole range of things including speaking at conferences. We have two ethics officers who are overseen by the head lawyer.

Additionally as a CPA I'm required by my licensing board to have ethics training every cycle and abide by their rules of conduct.

People have been fired for conduct unbecoming as pink described above.

What kind of conduct is considered unbecoming?

[wvugurl26]

The one guy managed to break a few federal laws and get himself arrested while on TDY. And apparently told the cops he'd have their jobs.

[cael]

Yup, it's kind of hilarious: as public employees, we aren't allowed to accept a gift... valued over $50. So technically someone *could* accept a gift under that value. that's the state ethics code I think though, in my (municipal) office we have a clear never-accept-anything policy and none of us ever do.

I've heard stories of good ol' boys decades ago who used to be in my department going into places and making them give him furniture and other stuff... really weird.

[ArchietheDragon]

Accepting gifts never seems to be a problem for CT politicians. Until they get caught, that is.

[garion2003]

I work in education and there are always ethics rules. Sometimes a grateful student or parent (I work in student services) will send a box of chocolates or a tub of popcorn to one of the staff. The general rule of thumb is to share it with coworkers, and if it's flowers, put it in a public area.

In the 'good old days' student loan lenders would shower offices with free swag. Those rules changed - for the better, I would argue.

I was once presenting (as a volunteer) to our local high school, but on behalf of a quasi state agency. The school was new to the program and later sent me a $50 gift card to a nice restaurant. It was a nice gesture, but the organization has an ethics policy in which that kind of gift must be returned. Again, if it was a box of gourmet cookies I could have taken it to the office and shared it.

[tcu2003]

For us, depends on the client. We do a lot of work with a big box retailer, and they're not allowed to accept any gifts, even a free meal. Occasionally they hold meetings in one of our offices, and only if we're billing them back for a meal/beverages/snacks, can they eat them without paying us for their portion.

For most other clients, normal wining/dining is fine as long as it's allowed per their company rules. We can also play rounds of golf, attend sporting events, happy hours, etc hosted by some of the vendors/manufacturers we work with, but those aren't everyday things and are relatively inexpensive.

As a licensed professional, I do have to do ethics training yearly to renew my license in one particular state, so I get a refresher each year.

[The Captain]

Nominal gifts only.  If I get something bigger like food I share it with the co-workers.  The few times I've gotten something that technically couldn't be shared (gift card etc) I've disclosed it to my boss and returned it to the vendor or donated it to the office grab bag prize pool. 

If you are offered box seats to a game etc you can only attend if the vendor is hosting.  I always turn those down.  My commute is too long and I'd get home well after midnight.  A few of these (Hawks playoff, Bulls box seats, Cubs private box) have made DH whimper when I mentioned it. 

No betting or gambling on company property - that means no fantasy football, baby pools, etc.   This is strictly followed.

In both the ethics and travel policy it states to be conservative with your spending and to use company resources as if they were your own.   Mgmt pretty much walks the walk.

We are allowed to contribute and buy co-worker gifts (weddings, baby showers, funerals etc). 

Mgmt is also pretty well behaved here.  I've worked at places where I so seriously wish there was a personal conduct policy - yea the (C$@) got some underling pregnant and suddenly she's promoted and transferred/relocated to corporate HQ and the relocation covers 18 months of rent because it takes her sooooo long to find a house.  That's only the beginning.  I couldn't get out of that place fast enough.

I've seen some serious bullshit and abuse in my time. 

[Deleted]

Most of the places where I worked had policies that if a gift was something you could use in the office (pen, calendar, etc.) you could keep it. Anything else got turned in and raffled off at Christmas. All employees were entered. The President joked about how sad he was to have to donate a case of Australian wine, but he followed the rules, too.

My most recent employer didn't have a raffle but most of the gifts were food that was shared and they had some guidelines about being able to accept things of small value- probably the $50 range.  One of our clients was a very large airline (we helped them assemble their insurance/self-insurance program) and they offered some sort of Super Elite status (beyond what ordinary mortals can get from travel) for key people on the account.  They had to turn it down.

In my specific area of practice, actuaries were frequently responsible for determining how much money to put in reserves for incurred but unreported claims, or for claims that had been reported but the value wasn't yet known for sure.  For most property-casualty companies this is a HUGE number and there's a ton of judgment involved, with many possible values in a reasonable range. If reserves need to be increased on old business as more information comes in, it can turn an otherwise profitable year into a loss year or even wipe out the company.  Over the almost-40 years I was working, I saw plenty of actuaries who were pressured by management to certify a number they weren't comfortable with.  Some refused and survived, some refused and were fired for "not being a team player" and some signed off on numbers they weren't comfortable with. hoping that eventually they could "ooze in" the reserve increases over the next few years.  Sometimes that worked.  It's one of the reasons I never wanted to be a Chief Actuary- I'm really bad with politics.

[Sam_2.0]

We have strict rules when it comes to dealing with the PUCs - they won't even drink the coffee when they come here without paying for it (no one pays for coffee - its just in the break rooms for free). They always pay for their lunches when we order. What's funny, though, is that we found out in a recent rate case that the PUC staffs are actually funded by the utilities. Got to love it So we pay for their salaries, but they are trying really hard to look like they are not biased. Probably why they err on the side of the customers quite often.

As for other vendors/customers, depends on your involvement with them. Our business account managers have some leeway in what they can give or get. As for me, there's no reason anyone would want to give me anything. I do make sure to buy my own lunch when we go out with the contractors just because I don't need anything coming back to haunt me later, but I am sure it would be fine.

DH is a broker. His world is ALL ABOUT wining & dining the clients. And the wholesalers shower all kinds of gifts on the brokers. He's constantly going to lunch at local swanky steak houses for lunch, getting offered trips, etc. We actually tried to go on one of the trips this spring but couldn't get it to work out. We will go soon though Just have to pay for my plane ticket.

[wvugurl26]

I forgot the no gambling part. We get reminded of that a million times every March. There's also no fundraising of any kind except CFC. Enforcement of that one is a little lax. People could get in trouble for bringing in order forms for little Suzy's Girl Scout cookies.

Contracting is a whole other set of rules and ethics.

[lynnerself]

Apr 7, 2015 19:11:25 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

We have a lot of rules about gifts and things where I work. When we have employees that have tragedies in their personal lives we usually get cards for them and employees voluntarily contribute money to be placed in the card. Sometimes the money buys something for the recipient, sometimes we just gift them the money itself. Technically, it's against the rules but in all the years I've been there, no manager has told us we had to stop. Some of them even participate.

Recently, I had a co-worker that lost her parents to a murder suicide. Another co-worker put a stop to the contributions before anybody even got it together, by threatening to "tell it". Even though it is against the rules, it ticked me off because she was just being ugly and spiteful.

I don't understand the purpose of this at all. I get why there are rules about gifts from venders, students, clients, inspectors etc. People who could possible influence your decisions. We have strict rules about this here too.

But what harm is there in helping out fellow employees voluntarily? Do you know what the reasoning behind this is?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The university where I worked had HUGE rules for employees.....to the point that the medical center could no longer accept drug samples from drug companies.  This really came back and bit them in the butt, as a good portion of the patient population was on Medicaid or Medicare and those samples were helping their patients considerably, as they didn't have to go out and buy drugs.  I think that they figured out a work around, but it wound up costing the university a lot.

We used to have sales reps come into the lab and take us to lunch.  No place expensive, normally ~$10 or so.  We didn't buy their products because they took us to lunch, we bought them because they were the only game in town and were good.  That came to a screeching halt, which was sad because the rep was a world of information with regards to their products and we were able to save the university a lot of $$ by schmoozing with them - way more than the $20 our meal cost.  He was really good in letting us know in advance that there was going to be a price increase, so we could pre-order at the old price.  We probably saved thousands of $$ this way.

But I do see how it could be abused, but IMO it usually cost us money.

[lynnerself]

We had to get rid of anything vender or drug rep related at our clinic. Right down to the clocks on the wall and the pens and scratch pads.

[ArchietheDragon]

wine me and dine me. I am open to all gifts.

[Malarky]

We have a no tips policy at the bakery.  Our staff gets paid above market rates.  They are expected to treat all customers well because it's their responsibility, not to garner a bigger tip. Accepting tips is a fireable offense. People will insist on leaving money that gets pooled and sent to charity.

In terms of gifts, if someone hands you a sealed envelope with your name on it, it's yours.  It isn't anyone else's business what is in it.  This happens a lot around the holidays.  

Also, some of our purveyors hand out gifts at the holidays.  I deal with the paper companies, so I get first dibs on whatever perks they send my way.  My coworker who deals with the chocolate guy gets the bottles of wine he offers.  Most things get put in the lunchroom and up for grabs to anyone who wants them.  

Strangely enough, the gifts we receive most often are gifts of food.  We have a woman from Taiwan who didn't speak any English when she first arrived and we were the first people to take the time to really communicate with her.  She makes us the most awesome homemade Asian food.  Like nothing I've ever had in a restaurant.  And we have people who make us cookies.  And one of the local sandwich shops sends us subs once in a while.  As does a local taqueria.  

Every delivery person who comes to the shop gets coffee or a drink and something to eat.  The same goes for every sales rep we have a relationship with and many of those who come looking for business and we turn them down.  

The health inspector is the only person we don't give anything to.  At the end of every inspection, after the report is filed, she buys a cup of coffee and we sit and chat.  Neither of us is willing to give even a hint of impropriety.   Both our reputations are too important.

The perks of working for a small business.  We only answer to the one woman who owns the bakery and has run a successful business for close to four decades.

 

[andi9899]

Apr 7, 2015 18:12:10 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Do you have any ethical standards that you have meet at work? For example, do you have any policies on gifting or "favors" to or from vendors.  Do you have any personal ethical rules at work?

I work in the government, we aren't allowed to give or receive gifts over $10 at work.  It's even more stringent in my official duties.  As a regulator, I can't accept anything but water from the people I inspect. I'm encouraged not even to eat lunch with people I'm inspecting due to the appearance of conflict of interest.

But as I understand it in private industry, "wining and dining" and giving gifts to clients is pretty common.

What say you? 

We can't give gifts over $10 and never cash. If I give someone a gift card for a referral, I have to give it for every referral they send me whether I write the business or not. Otherwise it's considered rebating and I can get in big trouble. I can also wine and dine referral sources with no cap on the amount. So I'm pretty much in the same boat as you.

[andi9899]

Apr 8, 2015 7:06:26 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

The one guy managed to break a few federal laws and get himself arrested while on TDY. And apparently told the cops he'd have their jobs.

We had an agent get fired for sending lewd drunken text messages to a client in the wee hours of the morning. He was hot for her and expressed this sentiment. Well her fiance found out and went to the office and went ape shit. The guy was an arrogant ass and stole business from other agents, so we weren't very sad to see him go. I work in a different office and missed the whole thing! Doh!

[weltschmerz]

Apr 7, 2015 18:12:10 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Do you have any ethical standards that you have meet at work? For example, do you have any policies on gifting or "favors" to or from vendors.  Do you have any personal ethical rules at work?

I work in the government, we aren't allowed to give or receive gifts over $10 at work.  It's even more stringent in my official duties.  As a regulator, I can't accept anything but water from the people I inspect. I'm encouraged not even to eat lunch with people I'm inspecting due to the appearance of conflict of interest.

But as I understand it in private industry, "wining and dining" and giving gifts to clients is pretty common.

What say you? 

I work in a hospital, so it's nothing but ethical standards.

As far as gifts go, it's OK to give a box of cookies or chocolates for the staff on the floor to share.

A family member gave me a Christmas present, nicely wrapped with pretty bows. I told her we're not allowed to accept personal gifts. She said "It's not for you, it's for Sushi."

It was cat crack and cat toys and cat treats. I thought it was cute. I don't think Sushi appreciated how nicely wrapped it was, but he sure liked those Friskies Temptations.

[andi9899]

Ha ha! I was wondering what cat crack was for a minute. That's funny.

[garion2003]

Apr 8, 2015 10:17:09 GMT -5 lynnerself said:

Apr 7, 2015 19:11:25 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

We have a lot of rules about gifts and things where I work. When we have employees that have tragedies in their personal lives we usually get cards for them and employees voluntarily contribute money to be placed in the card. Sometimes the money buys something for the recipient, sometimes we just gift them the money itself. Technically, it's against the rules but in all the years I've been there, no manager has told us we had to stop. Some of them even participate.

Recently, I had a co-worker that lost her parents to a murder suicide. Another co-worker put a stop to the contributions before anybody even got it together, by threatening to "tell it". Even though it is against the rules, it ticked me off because she was just being ugly and spiteful.

I don't understand the purpose of this at all. I get why there are rules about gifts from venders, students, clients, inspectors etc. People who could possible influence your decisions. We have strict rules about this here too.

But what harm is there in helping out fellow employees voluntarily? Do you know what the reasoning behind this is?

I'm just guessing, but one I could think of is less drama Also it can be political - if your boss has a kid that sells something for school, how many would just help and how many would feel obligated?

[Deleted]

Apr 8, 2015 10:17:09 GMT -5 lynnerself said:

Apr 7, 2015 19:11:25 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

We have a lot of rules about gifts and things where I work. When we have employees that have tragedies in their personal lives we usually get cards for them and employees voluntarily contribute money to be placed in the card. Sometimes the money buys something for the recipient, sometimes we just gift them the money itself. Technically, it's against the rules but in all the years I've been there, no manager has told us we had to stop. Some of them even participate.

Recently, I had a co-worker that lost her parents to a murder suicide. Another co-worker put a stop to the contributions before anybody even got it together, by threatening to "tell it". Even though it is against the rules, it ticked me off because she was just being ugly and spiteful.

I don't understand the purpose of this at all. I get why there are rules about gifts from venders, students, clients, inspectors etc. People who could possible influence your decisions. We have strict rules about this here too.

But what harm is there in helping out fellow employees voluntarily? Do you know what the reasoning behind this is?

No, I don't know the reason. Maybe because it's a given that there's a lot more than a few dollars involved when you have a lot of people contributing and it's done on company time. Or maybe they consider it fundraising, which we're not suppose to do either. No selling girl scout cookies or stuff in the brochures that schools send your kids home with to raise money. We have a lot of rules.