Ethics and large corporations

[tvguy]

I have worked for a number of large companies and I have never seen one that did not put anything in writing.

I worked for one corporation (1996 to 2005) that put out an Employee Handbook and ended up recalling it because of lawsuits that came up because they were not following the published severance policy. That came after they had issued a 14 page supplement just for our location, the only one in California, because some of their policies were against California law.
One was, they REQUIRED 14 days notice when you resigned, and if you gave less than 14 days, you forfeited any vacation time you had on the books. An employee who gave 13 days notice challenged that rule with the state Labor board, he had 4 weeks of vacation on the books. By the time the dust settled, he got paid for his 4 weeks vacation time, got 4 weeks pay in punitive damages and the state imposed a $10,000 fine.
And in California, managers can be found PERSONALLY liable, so that has had a huge chilling effect on them putting ANYTHING in writing.

 

[wvjules]

Tvguy, just because you experienced something doesn't mean it's that way across the board.

I, too, work for a large company (not a Corp) and everything is in writing. There is probably very little that is not covered in writing somewhere.

 

[DeaverTex]

Tex, so you think all large corporations are unethical?

To a greater or lesser extent, yes I do. Ethics is something that individuals exercise, not corporations. By the time something has percolated through the levels of review and endorsement/revision to actually become an action, all ethics has been scrubbed out of it. Corporate ethics, unfortunately, consists mostly of avoiding anything that is specifically prohibited by law. And minimizing the effect of the law is the reason that large corporations tend to have legal departments.

Tvguy, just because you experienced something doesn't mean it's that way across the board.

I, too, work for a large company (not a Corp) and everything is in writing. There is probably very little that is not covered in writing somewhere.

Absolutely. I deal with government agencies (city, county, and state) and although they put out a lot of written material, but put very little "in writing" because once something is in black and white it's potential lawsuit material.

 

[tvguy]

Tvguy, just because you experienced something doesn't mean it's that way across the board.

I, too, work for a large company (not a Corp) and everything is in writing. There is probably very little that is not covered in writing somewhere.

Well that is a two way street. It's because of lawsuits I suspect. My wife's company even stopped doing written performance evaluations after they let 2 employees go for not knowing how to do their jobs......lawsuits were filed, and the company had to settle because both had years and years of positive evaluations...IN WRITING.

 

[Atlas722]

Should big Business companies like Disney take responsiblilty for their actions if they are considered to be persons?

Yes. Definitely.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ethics and larger corporations? I think it happened once, lol.

For example, EPIC is still privately held, so it may exist.

Once it is public they are loyal to the shareholders and ethics is out the window.

 

[sam_gordon]

Never happen at many place. They put NOTHING in writing or in an e-mail, it is all verbal.

So none of your reporters or anchors are under contract? I find that VERY hard to believe.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

So none of your reporters or anchors are under contract? I find that VERY hard to believe.

I do not know how any business can operate without putting anything in writing.

So far today I have issued three purchase orders and updated six employees training records with LOTO audit performed yesterday.

 

[tvguy]

So none of your reporters or anchors are under contract? I find that VERY hard to believe.

Yes, they do put those in writing, but those are lawyered to death during the entire process. They wouldn't be able to hire any of those folks. I am talking about daily work directives.
Although in my own experience, having worked under contract just once in 40 years, I will never ever ever again work under contract.

 

[Allons-y!]

Yes, they do put those in writing, but those are lawyered to death during the entire process. They wouldn't be able to hire any of those folks. I am talking about daily work directives.
Although in my own experience, having worked under contract just once in 40 years, I will never ever ever again work under contract.

Do you honestly think that management never sends e-mails to their staff telling them to do XYZ?? Almost every post of yours makes you look like you just time traveled from 40 years ago. I'm starting to wonder if you are just pulling the collective Dis leg all the time.

 

[tvguy]

Do you honestly think that management never sends e-mails to their staff telling them to do XYZ?? Almost every post of yours makes you look like you just time traveled from 40 years ago. I'm starting to wonder if you are just pulling the collective Dis leg all the time.

No time traveling. And 40 years ago, managers weren't afraid to put things in writing. And while I am in California, where things tend to be different, I am a little surprised that people are surprised.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No time traveling. And 40 years ago, managers weren't afraid to put things in writing. And while I am in California, where things tend to be different, I am a little surprised that people are surprised.

In my dh's corporate world, it is "Big Brother" all the way. You are tracked and must CC people to death due to corporate infighting. It has become non functional.

He needs 2 more yrs...2 more yrs...2 more yrs...

 

[tvguy]

In my dh's corporate world, it is "Big Brother" all the way. You are tracked and must CC people to death due to corporate infighting. It has become non functional.

He needs 2 more yrs...2 more yrs...2 more yrs...

I don't doubt that is required of the workers, but do the managers do the CCing too? One of our newer co-workers commented that our managers rarely respond to any question that is e-mailed, you have to corner them in person.

 

[DopeyDame]

I work for one of the largest corporations in the country and they put virtually everything in writing. We have policies upon procedures upon guidelines.
We have twice yearly written performance reviews precisely so that managers can document document document before firing someone to avoid any legal claims.
It's definitely not lawyers who are making companies avoid putting things in writing. Lawyers want it ALL written down.
You got seriously injured on the job? Well were you following procedure number 2,519 as directed? No? Well not our fault then.

 

[Allons-y!]

I don't doubt that is required of the workers, but do the managers do the CCing too? One of our newer co-workers commented that our managers rarely respond to any question that is e-mailed, you have to corner them in person.

This is something else you seem to do frequently. You assume that your little corner of the world represents everywhere else.

 

[MillauFr]

No time traveling. And 40 years ago, managers weren't afraid to put things in writing. And while I am in California, where things tend to be different, I am a little surprised that people are surprised.

Works the same way in Washington State. I worked for a state government and they had the lawyers giving classes about once per month imploring us not to put anything sensitive in e-mail. The E stands for evidence. I think they made us write it a hundred times on the white boards. They got so flustered with all the public disclosure requests that they threatened to shut down the e-mail system.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't doubt that is required of the workers, but do the managers do the CCing too? One of our newer co-workers commented that our managers rarely respond to any question that is e-mailed, you have to corner them in person.

Oh yea.

You cannot "corner a boss" because most people work VO. Also your "boss" may be in a different state.

 

[tlens]

I work in company of over 1500 employees. Everything is in writing. Handbooks, policies. How can a company operate with any corporate governance? Saying large companies don't is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. If a company refuses to put things in writing, then I question if they are actually good employers and are purposely doing things wrong. If you have sound policies and procedures in place with proper governance and structures to back that up, you can be sure that as long as you follow those rules, you will be ok. It's companies that don't have anything guiding them that will get their rear ends handed to them in court. If you are disciplining and employee for just cause and that leads to termination, then a prior good performance review means little.

 

[RitaE]

Is one of those California differences a shortage of Lawyers (if so I know a few or 20 or so who need jobs)? Because around here large companies mean legal departments and legal departments mean lawyers and there is no lawyer ever in the history of lawyering who doesn't strive to produce pounds and pounds of paper and Gigabytes of electronic communication.

 

[Poohforyou]

Well that is a two way street. It's because of lawsuits I suspect. My wife's company even stopped doing written performance evaluations after they let 2 employees go for not knowing how to do their jobs......lawsuits were filed, and the company had to settle because both had years and years of positive evaluations...IN WRITING.

There's a difference between large companies/corporations and mismanaged large companies/corporations. It sounds to me you're talking about the latter and not the former.