Why a Lot of Employees Are a Little Unethical at Work, and What to Do About It

By Jaclynn Ballman, Reginia Mouton, Kathelleen Parsons, & Chrissy Young

Why is this misuse of company time unethical?

• Dishonest• Costly to company• Relationships• Productivity

(Page)

Honesty – refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way

Dictionary.com

TIME = MONEY$

Unethical practices in the workplace may lead to:

– Trust issues within the ranks – Setting the bar for others

Improper use of time can lead to decrease in productivity, which could ultimately cause a decrease in employee benefits due to cost

issues and loss of profits.

is one of the several individual mechanisms that directly affects job performance and organizational

commitment (Colquitt et al, 2009), which then has proven an effect on companies finance and productivity by those not

showing results that are expected of them in the job description that an employee has signed for at time of hiring.

intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment.

This is behavior that employees do intentionally. (Colquitt et al, 2009)

Surveyed IT managers on average estimated that each employee is using the Internet for personal use for

5.9 hours a week, after multiplying these numbers by the average American hourly salary, Websense came up with the figure of $178 billion. (Saalfield, 2005)

Cyberloafing- the use of technology that is not work related, like email, social media, internet shopping.

Moonlighting- the use of organization time and resources to complete non- work related tasks. (Colquitt et al, 2009)

Unintentional Misuse of Time

Sometimes the misuse of company time is unintentional. Well meaning employees can also find themselves abusing time. Let’s take a look at four types of unintentional time abusers.

The PreemptiveAt first this employee seems a dream come true. They are ahead of schedule. They compulsively beat the clock and complete assignments ahead of time. They literally sprint to beat the deadline. However, their work may contain errors because they rush to the finish line. Instead of using the extra time to double check their work or to help their team members, they may use their extra time in personal pursuits such as surfing the web. This time abuser can be helped by providing him/her with opportunities to mentor others (Berglas 2004). Also, clear expectations for the quality of assignments should be set by managers.

This employee also seems to be a dream come true. They want to be helpful. They want the members of their team to

be happy. However, they tend to take on too much responsibility and accept work beyond the boundaries of

their job. In turn this leads the people pleaser to waste time in unproductive projects. As we have already established,

time is money. The people pleasers team members may be happy to pass off unwanted work. However, those that

have passed off their work become involved in time wasting activities. Managers can help people pleasers by keeping

an eye on their work load and then calmly reassigning some of the work if necessary (Berglas, 2004).

The People Pleaser

The PerfectionistAnother good employee. They do first rate work. And yet they may be considered among those that misuse company time. How so? They take more time than allotted to complete tasks. They often get “stuck” on one task and are unable or unwilling to move on to other tasks or assignments. The perfectionist can be helped by getting other team members to evaluate their work prior to the deadline. This will help them to realize their work really is “good enough” (Berglas, 2004). Pairing a preemptive with a perfectionist may be a good idea. The two could serve to balance one another and therefore meet deadlines on time and with few mistakes.

The ProcrastinatorThis is the most common type of time

abuser. The procrastinator is often sidetracked by many other pursuits and unexpected crises. The procrastinator does not mean to become sidetracked. They often have the best intentions and

actually want to do good work. However, they often find themselves caught up in the anxiety of accomplishment and the

fear of failure. Managers can help procrastinators by assuring them that

glitches along the way are expected. This helps to lower their anxiety and

encourages them to tackle the project at hand (Berglas,2004).

References

Colquitt, J., Lepine, J., & Wesson, M. (2009). Chapter 2 job performance. Organizational behavior 2nd edition (2nd ed., pp. 35, 80-81, 104)

McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Mills, D. C. (2015). In David C Mills (Ed.), Ethical use of company time

Saalfield, P. (2005). Internet misuse costs businesses $178 billion annually. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2671119/applications/internet-misuse-costs-businesses--178-billion-annually.html

Savage, C. (1986). In Carlos Savage (Ed.), Misuse of time [Misuse of company time]

References for Unintentional Misuse of Time

Berglas, S. (2004). Time Management: Chronic Time Abusers. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2004/06/chronic-time-abuse

All images were retrieved via google documents search: Clock Image retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/clocks-clock-time-watch-date-1098080?

Sprinter image retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/runner-athlete-sprinter-race-black-3117371

People pleaser image retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/people-person-man-male-group-10997961

Perfectionist Image retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritz-park/4867114877

Procrastinator Image retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/prabakarant/18487200253

References

• Page, D. (n.d.). How to Use Company Time Ethically. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-company-time-ethically-38594.html

• Time fraud is the most common unethical workplace behavior. (2015, February 02). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://www.inceptiontechnologies.com/blog/workforce-management/time-fraud-is-the-most-common-unethical-workplace-behavior/

• Dictionary.com• All images accessed through Google Images

Works CitedMicheal, P. (2016). Seven Reasons for Employee Demotivation. Employer Centre , 1.Images obtained from a Google search:Facebook image: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vm1jirRyggJRRBXbDjvtOiLs9BV69ya89lGK6ckLYX8/edit#slide=id.g125f00ddea_0_56

Multitasking image: http://worldartsme.com/multitasking-clipart.html#gal_post_95853_multitasking-clipart-1.jpgLack of commitment quote: http://www.shashankadler.com/post/102523810909/people-fail-because-of-lack-of-commitment