Among former Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stuart Potter’s more notable quotes is his observation, “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.”[i]
Speak with any human-capital management (HCM) leader these days, and there is little doubt that the Covid pandemic has raised a myriad of legal and ethical issues impacting the conditions under which both remote and in-person employees worked. The “pandemic normal” also sparked opportunities for both frustration and grace (we hope more of the latter) as nearly everyone navigated through mostly uncharted workplace legal and ethical issues.
As more and more organizations are returning to a post-pandemic “new normal”, there is an enormous opportunity for HCM leaders to take the lessons learned from how business operated during the pandemic and to revisit legal compliance in the workplace through a sharper ethical lens.
Serving this combined legal and ethical perspective, below are some questions HCM leaders can use in discussions with senior leaders and others. Keeping in mind Justice Potter’s quote above, each of these questions implicates many commonly held organizational values and will help to identify how well these values are intersecting with legal mandates.
Is the organization “living” its values? This can be deduced in part by examining the degree to which an organization goes beyond minimum legal compliance and further empowers employees at all levels with knowledge about their workplace rights. The high level of uncertainty many employees faced during the pandemic could have been assuaged to a certain degree by a robust employer communication plan. This would have kept employees apprised of rapidly changing workplace conditions and how the organizational leaders were meeting such challenges. From an organizational standpoint, “valuing our employees” can manifest itself when ethical actions go beyond legal compliance. While some organizations struggled with this effort, others rose to the challenge. No matter where a particular organization fell on this spectrum, now more than ever, the legal and ethical benefits of a comprehensive and reasonably transparent communication plan cannot be overstated.
Is the organization recognizing its greatest assets: the employees? What employee actions, suggestions, new practices, flexibility, compassion, inclusive behaviors, etc. did organizational leaders recognize during the pandemic? Was the recognition ad hoc or part of a larger, formalized organizational program? How can organizational leaders keep this momentum moving forward as things settle into a “new normal”? That to which we pay attention today, becomes ingrained in tomorrow’s workplace culture. How do HCM leaders envision future organizational culture, and what steps can they take to make it a reality?
Is the organization supporting managers and employees in co-creating and maintaining a legally compliant and an ethical workplace climate? First off, is the organization properly vetting all job candidates to assure they possess the objective, job-related skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed for success? In the context of legal compliance and ethical behaviors, this is particularly important for managerial candidates because they must meet the wider positional responsibilities for ethical comportment and legal compliance.
Once hired, is the organization supporting managers and employees in fostering a respectful and psychologically safe workplace climate? While there is no federal mandate that makes workplace bullying unlawful, those bullying behaviors that mistreat an individual based on her/his/their race or disability, for example, can violate federal and state laws against workplace discrimination. Nonetheless, organizational leaders should not limit consideration to whether a particular form of behavior violates existing law. Rather, they also must assess whether such behaviors contravene the organization’s values and ethics.
From a resource standpoint, what ongoing learning and development; policies; complaint-reporting procedures, etc. are available? Is there a strong anti-retaliation expectation in place? How well is this being publicized and monitored for compliance? Is the performance-management program designed to assess workplace behaviors that support a legally compliant and an ethically sound climate? If so, is it being administered properly?
In summary, are the organization’s ethical values actively advancing its legal obligations? This should be an ongoing area of inquiry for every organization seeking to enhance the ways in which it balances “the right to do something” in a way that “is right to do”. When an organization’s ethical values demonstrably and consistently align with and support its legal obligations, then the true spirit of the law is served. Certainly, HCM leaders are in a unique position to help make this happen. Carpe diem!
[i] Potter Stewart Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/potter_stewart_390058
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.
