You are an employee fresh on the chopping block.
There were warning signs of an inherently exploitative culture which were outweighed by the opportunity, and you are now in a dilemma as from within the company, you realize the warning signs were right.
If you are in a position of leadership, you cannot expect to combat the culture from within without support from the very top. And in small organisations especially, unethical practices come from the very top. If you cannot rally other leaders, you will feel alone.
In an organisation that rewards leaders who have had multiple team member and other employee complaints against them, a lone change maker does not stand much chance.
If you are a regular employee, in a non-leadership role, you can only follow the chain of command, or some defined protocol, and raise the issue. How far do you expect it to reach though before you yourself are fired?
How do you manage this dilemma? Especially under restrictions of a pandemic lockdown where immoral profiteers have crept out of the woodwork everywhere…
If you continue, you risk your mental wellbeing for the price of monetary security, or misplaced pride or loyalty. You reassure yourself that you can cut your losses and quit as you get another job (monetary security). That can take time though. In the meantime, how do you cope? Unethical corporate behaviour is not uncommon even in a developed country like U.S.A. (See this Harvard Business Review article).
And most of the advice to employees is under the assumption that the “company” supports positive ethical change.
In a small organisation that is usually not the case as it is the founders whose practices have built the company from ground up. These leaders will swear by their practices, albeit maybe behind closed doors.
In such cases, you alone cannot effect change from the inside and should consider jumping ship asap, especially if your continued efforts to effect positive change are met with the same barriers every time.
This brings us to the employee’s next dilemma. If one must jump ship, is it not selfish to give up the matter once you yourself are out?
Fortunately, there are effective organisations in developed countries like U.S.A. that support individuals who would like to support other employees in the organisation and ensure no new employees are taken in by a glib spiel.
Some common easy to adopt unethical practices seen in growing/profitable organisations:
- Hire and fire policy and history [No notice? No value. Company believes entire workforce is easily replaceable.]
- Policies that put employee last [For ex., continuous (24/7) monitoring of employees’ personal computers. The employer has trust issues. Another ex., rewarding operations over support function teams.]
- Creating company branding from imaginative minds of a creative marketing team as opposed to looking internally to represent true culture
- Fake employee profiles on professional networking sites to elevate standing
- Fake company reviews on professional review sites
- Retaining profitable leaders who have multiple complaints against them and letting go of stressed complainants instead
- Quick in drawing the legal card. Employees who feel mistreated and do not complain through the right channels are threatened with exaggerated lawsuits
- Distant family members and old friends receive preference over other employees and applicants
There are better ways than beating your head against a wall to combat such companies and their unethical practices, so you or other employees are not hurt. Reach out to the right establishments in your area and in the parent company’s jurisdiction.
I recently had an experience that introduced me to such practices within the Recruitment Industry. It was not a pleasant experience, and I would not wish it upon anyone.
Remember, there is always a right way. You can always reach out to us for guidance on preparedness and who to contact to help yourself or others.