94 What practices help implement ethical principles for individuals?

Faced with challenges from the prior two questions, is there hope that ethical and stakeholder concerns may impact the practice of business? Yes. To do so requires commitment from both companies and those who work for them.

On the individual side, professional values and ethical reasoning are traits valued by all good employers. In fact, we have seen throughout this book that employees’ sound ethical decisions lead to higher profits in the long run. How do we develop the ability to make such decisions? We will see in the coming paragraphs that it takes discipline, commitment, and practice. Strong work and personal relationship matters, too.

Workplace research indicates that employees are more likely to be unethical when they are dissatisfied with their jobs or see their superiors acting unethically. How do relationships influence this equation? A good example set at the top and the freedom to determine a comfortable work-life balance for oneself—all influenced by the organization’s positive relationship with its employees—lead to a more ethical workplace. Of course, no job is perfect, and most of us experience some Monday mornings when we do not necessarily want to go into the office or exert the energy to be productive. And a company that provides high-quality goods to consumers at relatively low prices should get at least some credit for treating consumers fairly and ethically. It remains true, however, that any firm that wishes its employees to act ethically in the workplace must develop managers who model such behavior consistently toward all the company’s stakeholders. No other single act on the part of business leaders is as important as this in fostering ethical behavior on the part of employees.

According to the logic of the market, each of us is a commodity with specific assets, such as education, training, and job experience. But we are more than commodities, and what moves us are values. Can you identify your core values and imagine how you might live them in the workplace? To make the difficult decisions that come with career, personal life, and the balance between both, we must identify our personal values. Values provide us with the why for doing what we do. As an entrepreneur, for instance, you may find yourself working nonstop, dealing with emergency phone calls at 3:00 a.m., and doing a great deal of soul-searching about the direction and culture of your new venture. These tasks collectively might serve as impediments to happiness unless they truly reflect your underlying values.

Ethical professionals try to work for companies whose values align with their own. How do you evaluate a company to see whether it is a good occupational fit and one that will allow you to live your ethical values every day? Ethics has become a major consideration for young people in their selection of work and career. The following observation about young British workers applies to their counterparts in the United States, as well: “There’s a quiet revolution happening. . . but it’s not about pay, hours or contracts. It’s a coup d’état led by the nation’s young, politically engaged jobseekers who demand employers enshrine values and ethics in their business model, not just profit.”^[2]

Many job seekers want to feel that what they are doing is not just making money but making a difference, that is, contributing to the company in unique ways that reflect their core values, conscience, and personality. They believe an individual has worth beyond their immediate work or position. Many modern companies thus try to give greater weight to the human cost of decisions and employee happiness. They know that, according to studies, employees in “companies that work to build and maintain ethical workplace cultures are more financially successful and have more motivated, productive employees.”^[3] The decision whether to transfer someone from Boston to Salt Lake City, for instance, would now likely include the employee from the beginning and consider the impact on family members and the employee’s future, in addition to the needs of the company.

This was not always the case, and there are several reasons for the change. The first is that satisfied employees are more productive and feel greater commitment to the organization.^[4] Second, there are more options for job seekers, which gives them more freedom to choose a company for which to work. Many business journals report annually on how highly employees rate their work places. For example, you can consult Fortune’s annual list of “100 Best Companies to Work For,” which you can search by such factors as diversity, compensation, and paid time off.

A third reason more companies are considering what truly makes employees happy is that even more than loyalty, employees appear to value the freedom and responsibility to act as moral agents in their own lives. A moral agent is someone capable of distinguishing right from wrong and willing to be held accountable for their choices. The exercise of moral agency includes making a judgment about the alignment of personal and corporate conscience. Rather than jumping at the first job offer, moral agents assess whether the values expressed by the organization conform with their own, while recognizing that there is no perfect job. Even the most ethical organizations make mistakes, and even the most corrupt have managers and workers of integrity. This is why the “right fit” is more likely to be a job in which you can grow or that itself will change in a way that allows you to find greater meaning in it.