Caught Red Handed-What Would You Do?
Lets say that you caught a professional employee in the act of stealing. For the sake of argument, lets assume that another person saw it also. There is no doubt. The employee is guilty. What would you do?
Do you turn the other way because "John" is such a good guy? Do you confront him? Do you call HR and/or security? Would you be influenced by the seriousness of the theft? What if it was office supplies such as pens or computer paper? How about 2 bags of mulch in front of the office? Okay, how about a computer or printer?
Should the size of the crime matter? Isn't theft the issue? What if the thief is an employee of a protected class? A high potential employee? A prized and costly recruit? Does it matter?
Most of my HR friends will think this one is easy. They will act on theft regardless of the value of the object or regardless of the person committing the crime. I suspect that many of my non-HR friends will be swayed by who committed the crime. They may even be inclined to look the other way. I should also point out that cultural differences may play a role. This one may be handled differently in Singapore or China.
The difficult question is what do you do about it? If your policy says that theft is a dischargable offense, do you discharge someone with a clean record for taking something of negligible value? Some of you may be influenced by the person's record while others will say that a theft is a theft and want to discharge the person immediately. Most company policies leave room for interpretation. In other words, company officials can determine the penality to levy on the crime---up to and including discharge.
Call me a soft but I have a difficult time firing someone who has a clean record for taking something like several sheets of computer paper or a couple of pens. A box of paper is a different story. A computer is clear in my mind. For the smaller crimes, I would advocate placing someone on written notice and firing them immediately if theft of any kind occurs again.
How do you vote? What would you do?
posted by Steve (Nick) @ 5:56 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The issue of what's a lie comes to mind. What's a "white lie"? Taking a definite stand, making clear distinctions, keeps people knowing their boundaries. For example, a fellow was using the copier, bringing his own paper, when the office manager said "Don't bother with that. Just make your copies." Being a trusting guy, he started (against his better judgement) to do just that, make his own copies for his sports team. Then, ten to twelve months later, the office manager gets ticked off, tells the boss how the fellow is ripping off the company making tons of copies and boom, he's in trouble. Where, how, DO you draw the line? I think this fellow knows...with his original choice dictated by his conscience.
Thats a tough one. Of course the safest practice would have been for him to continue to use his own paper. I ask you however, who among us has not used company paper for our own personal usage? Be honest. If it is not 100% of us I am sure that it is close to that. Anyway, in your example, I hope that reason prevailed. Hopefully, "getting into trouble" did not mean getting fired. Also, hopefully the individual had his day in court and explained why he was using company paper. In my opinion, the office manager should have never authorized usage of the copier for personal purposes nor should the employee have used it. If it is okay to use it for a sports team, where do you draw the line?
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