Are ethics black and white?

It would be wonderful to see a raucous discussion around the answers.

Regarding the remote worker dilemma, if your company judges your outcomes based on how many hours you sit in your chair in front of the computer, your company is not a good candidate for telecommuting, because it's set up on the industrial model.

I am a full time remote worker. My boss wants me to work at times when I am most productive. It does not need to be between 9 and 5. I'd be in trouble for not meeting my objectives and deadlines, but not if he tried to call me at 3 p.m. and I was taking the dog for a walk. In fact, he doesn't call without setting up an appointment. Plus, I get my best ideas walking the dog. Since a lot of my work is "think work," it makes sense that a change of scenery would give me a new perspective.

One of my coworkers does most of her work from 11 p.m. to 2 p.m. Another is a freaky morning person who I get emails from at 5 a.m.

The real dilemma for telecommuting is to get the leaders in your company to stop focusing on inputs and focus on outcomes.

So, the answer to your dilemma is – go sit by the pool.

I kind of agree with Suzanne. If you find yourself in any of these situations, your company does not fully understand the concept of working remotely. The danger of working remotely for this kind of company is you become their 24-7 slave. Not cool.

I also agree that ethical dilemmas are not usually black and white. There are lots of other situations that illustrate this idea more clearly than working remotely. Ryan's freelance example is a great one.

On a more extreme scale, what do you do when company confidentiality policies forbid you from reporting a suspected case of child abuse or sexual assault. When one woman was faced with this situation, she chose to report her suspicion and was fired when her company realized what had happened. As an insurance company, her superiors had a vested interest in keeping their information confidential. They had based their whole image around trustworthiness and confidentiality, and that had been publicly breeched.

It may seem easy to say what you would have done if you were her or her boss, but could you keep your mouth shut if you thought a child was being hurt? Or could you, as her boss, send the message to employees that company policies were open to personal interpretation, especially in an industry under such constant legal scrutiny?

Suzanne – Great point about getting leadership to focus on outcome. I completely agree that someone who has the ability to work from home should not be required to sit in front of a computer from 9 to 5, in fact, I don't think anyone should. But even though companies are beginning to embrace remote locations and flexibility, many are still set up on the industrial model like you mention. It's going to take more than letting your employees work from home to change this, it will take a fundamental shift in thinking and management from production based on hours worked to production based on results. So, I agree. Sit by the pool.

Jacqui – That's a great example of a much more serious ethical dilemma. I hope she won the lawsuit!

I'm about to board a plane for San Francisco, but hopefully this will turn into a great discussion. I'm looking forward to reading more comments.

-Ryan

Since so much of my job is based on particular times of the day (i.e. stock market being open), telecommuting isn't much of an option. However, I do have my laptop set up to VPN when I'm not there, in the event that I need to. The biggest thing for me is having an employer who understands that everyone needs a good work / life balance. I've cut out early (approved) for a baseball game before, and also checked and responded to emails while I was in the hospital room when my wife gave birth. Give some, get some.

As for the freelancing, if your current company doesn't have a specific "no outside business" policy (many financial firms do), then I'd say burn some midnight oil and get it done. 3-4 hours a night would get it done in plenty of time, and still allow for some sleep. Esp. a good web designer. They should have enough templates and code snippets to get it done in no time.

@Jackie – I can't imagine a company would be allowed to force employees to keep criminal acts a secret, esp. abuse of children. That's got wrongful termination written all over it.

Personally I think life should revolve around work, and not the other way around. I have opened a dialogue with the HR branch of my company about working remotely, due to the fact that most of my work is web-based research and requires very little face-to-face interaction. I don't know if it will get anywhere, but I don't see the value in sitting in a cube from 8-5 (you 9-5ers are lucky) when I'm nowhere near my peak productivity. So for that dilemma, I say sit by the pool, check the email occassionally, and don't be a slave to a company that only cares that you get it done on time.

Regarding the issue of the "busy work" as it were, I say outsource it all, especially if you have something else more intellectually challenging to work on. Most of my work day revolves around menial tasks, and I'd love to push it off my desk so I can get to meatier projects. As it stands now though, the most droll work is the stuff that needs to be done first, so I'm kind of stuck. If I could push it off to someone else I'd gladly do it.

As far as consulting work, I see no problem with taking vacation time to do it if the company doesn't explicity forbid it. If I have the days to give and the desire to work on something else during that time, you should be free to do so. One area where my company is (marginally) forward-thinking is the concept of the "free day" rather than traditional vacation/sick days. I can take a free day for whatever reason, no questions asked. All I have to do is clear it with my boss that I won't be working on those particular days, and I'm free to do whatever I please (so long as it's legal that is). So in that area, I see no problem with taking the days off to do the consulting work. I suppose I would do the same thing in the job interview scenario (in fact I actually have).

So there are my responses, I don't know what it says about my ethics, maybe someone out there knows.

Maybe it's a sign of my age, but I think the answers here are pretty obvious. I consider myself an "ethical" person, but I don't see anything wrong with taking vacation days to either supplement your income or interview for another job. Your vacation days are yours to use however you wish (as long as you aren't violating company policy, as mentioned above). Sick days, however, should be reserved for actual illness. You just can't fake that stuff.

I don't think it's ethical to just sit around in order to appear to be working. I think that's more unethical than hitting the pool. Authenticity is the key. How can I expect my boss to believe I am actually working all the time when I am pretending to work part of the time?

The outsourcing thing is the only one that raises my eyebrow. I'm paid to fulfill my job duties and responsibilities as outlined to me when I agreed to work for my company. I feel like it would be unethical for me to outsource it; besides, that doesn't give me a lot of job security, especially if my company finds out that there are people who can do parts of my job for a fraction of my salary.

Having majored in philosophy and tailoring most of my coursework in ethics (business, medical, engineering, you name it) I always have fun with these topics. I'm decidedly out of the norm with my belief that most ethical dilemmas are actually black and white. I mean this in the sense that there are, for the most part, one or more clearly wrong choices, along with one or more clearly right choices when taking into consideration the context of the question.

Remote Worker: A, B or D are correct, really only C would be a wrong choice, because it's specifically stated that you are not granted flex time. Your OT for that week doesn't matter, so clearly you are in the wrong. Take half day, or waste time. Such is the pitfall of the industrial model, but it is your obligation nonetheless.

Outsourcing: I'm guessing that the "it is not confidential" part should be used to imply your employer doesn't have a problem with anyone else doing the work, but there's really not enough context here to have an informed opinion. I would say that at a high level if you have a problem divulging your "productivity enhancers" (to steal the southwest campaign) then you are probably not in the right.

Job Hopper: A or C are fine, D is just up to preference, but no ethical consideration there. The only problem would be how your employer docs "sick days." If they are truly for illness only, obviously it would be wrong of you to use a sick day to go to an interview, just like it's wrong to use a sick day to stay up all night for a videogame launch or because you went out drinking the night before.

Freelancer: A, C or D are fine, again as above, B is the only potentially unethical choice depending on how you employer categorizes sick days. A larger issue would be if your employer has a no compete clause, or if you have to make them aware of any outside source of income, which I am bound by contract to do.

So like I said above, there doesn't seem to be any real gray room here. Depending on the context of your specific employment, there might be different answers for different people, but that doesn't mean there's necessarily ethical gray room. For example, my employer doesn't really have sick days, we just have a large pool of personal days which are generally used for illness. That obviously changes my specific answers, but it doesn't mean that the same interpretation can be applied to others.

I don't think it's ethical to just sit around in order to appear to be working. I think that's more unethical than hitting the pool. Authenticity is the key. How can I expect my boss to believe I am actually working all the time when I am pretending to work part of the time?

@ holly – How do you resolve not having enough to do, but not being allowed to leave? During my training portion of my current role I literally had about 4 hours of work/training to do, and could do nothing else. The rest of the time was spent surfing. There are only so many decorations to take down and sort… So I fought to leave early, and eventually started working 5 hour days until my training was over. But even then, before my portfolio ramped up, I sat and surfed for hours while asking daily for more work, even if it was one off menial stuff.

Is sitting at my desk pretending to work? Should I have just left and gone to the pool? My employment states I'll give them 8 hours, it doesn't say anything along the lines of "if I feel unused I can leave and still receive compensation for my time." I think this is a larger entry level dilemma, and depending on how the employer handles it can elicit varying responses from people who have been or seen people in these situations.

BusinessWeek has an interactive case study on their website about the ethics of taking a sick day for job interviews. You can check it out here:

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2007/ca20071213_372903.htm

The consensus in the blogosphere seems to be that you should just ask for some personal time and not give a specific reason instead of faking sick and/or straight out lying.

I'm decidedly out of the norm with my belief that most ethical dilemmas are actually black and white. I mean this in the sense that there are, for the most part, one or more clearly wrong choices, along with one or more clearly right choices when taking into consideration the context of the question.

I'm with Nathan. I tend to be a little suspicious of these kinds of debates; people looking for "gray area" are going to find it, and it's often so that they can justify their own questionable behavior. But with all four questions, depending on the contextual specifics and after applying a bit of common sense, definite "right" and "wrong" answers seem pretty clear. Although, as holly points out, maybe I'm just showing my age.

Speaking of holly, I agree that it's unethical "to just sit around in order to appear to be working". To Nathan's question: the point here is the intent. The "just sitting around" part isn't the problem, particularly if you have no other choice; it's the "in order to appear to be working," which is dishonest (read: unethical).

Thanks for bringing this up Ryan. I think all of us have or will face these kind of ethical decisions at some point in our careers. As someone who has the privilege of working remotely one day a week, I have been trusted by my boss to be doing honest work when I'm at home. We do allow flex time though, so if I work a couple extra hours in the first part of the week, then my day from home could be a shorter workday. As long as I work 40 hours a week and I'm staying on top of my projects my boss is happy.

That said, there have been times where I have been less busy and was "on call" from home checking my e-mail occasionally and reading up on industry or career topics, but there have also been times where I chose to forego working remotely in order to be in the office for face-to-face meetings or to work overtime. In the end it all balances out.

I'm 26 years old, so I guess I qualify as Generation Y. I identify with Generation X's stereotypical slacker characteristics, and with Generation Y's tech savvy (esp. Facebook) and sense of entitlement. Here are my responses. Keep in mind that I don't consider myself a particularly ethical person.

Remote worker: A or C. I spend a significant portion of my leisure time surfing the Internet instead of going outside, and I spend a lot of time surfing the Internet when I should be working, anyway.

Outsourcing: I might just work 8-hour days and blow off the deadline, even if it means losing my job. I would certainly consider outsourcing, but if I intended to meet the deadline, I would probably do the work myself (possibly going without sleep so that I can continue to pursue my hobbies), not out of ethics, but to avoid spending money.

Job hopper: A or C. Vacation days can be used for anything, just like the lunch hour. I would prefer A, though, because I like to spend my lunch hour eating, hanging out, or doing personal stuff. When I take a sick day without actually being sick, I usually end up sick, plus I have more vacation days than sick days.

Freelancer: A or D. I might also try to sneak in freelance work during my day job. I know it's unethical, but it would save time for more fun things and let me keep my vacation days for a real vacation. Sometimes breaking the rules is quite satisfying. There's also a possibility that I would turn down the freelance work out of laziness.

I thoroughly enjoy this website and look forwarding to reading it. I am 27 years old and find myself looking into a mirror as I read some of the posts or questioning the those in my age group as if they were perfect strangers. I was so intrigued by these dilemmas that I had to read all of the responses and submit mine.

Remote Worker: Desired choice – C. Probably, the least ethical choice. But if I had worked 40 hours already and I have no additional work to do, I can't understand sitting in front of the computer at home doing nothing. Essentially, I am giving the company overtime for which I do not get compensated. I've fulfilled my contractual obligations of a 40-hr work week.

Realistic choice – A. But if it flex time is simply forbidden… I would probably spend my bored time updating my resume and researching other companies with similar positions that have more forward-thinking work-life balance policies. (Flex time may not officially be allowed by the company but I know of several good managers who allow it as their 'unoffical' dept policy. Its what helps these managers hold on to talent.)

Outsourcing Dilemma: A. It's not ethics. I'm a perfectionist. Nine and a half times out of ten I would change and probably re-do the assistant's work to fit my personal expectations. It's usually more efficient for me to just do the work on my own. (Side perk – no guilt!)

Job Hopper: A. I equate this action to surfing the internet on vacation at home and researching the local job market and salaries to know my professional worth. Vacation time is my time to do with it what I see fit and if I choose to do research into another job – sobeit. I see interviews as in-person job market research.

Freelance Designer: D. I've been taught that moonlighting is wrong by my Baby-Boomer parents, so if I am going to make a conscience decision to do it, then I have to feel like I am not 'significantly' short changing my company. I would work some long nights with the full understanding that sheer exhaustion would probably slow some of my normal productivity during the day.