People and Culture Leadership Ethics in the New Normal

By Angelina Mukhi

Why should we revisit ethics as we advance into the post covid workplace? Principles of ethics are rooted in the value of integrity, doing the right things, upholding virtuous actions that elevate humanity and uplift the soul. These are timeless ideals which are translated into reality in our everyday situations through decisions we make.

As the world of work continues to change, we must continue to make ethics relevant so that people are consistently guided towards the highest good. It is through the practice of ethics that people become leaders who inspire, and by which we become, individually and collectively, the best we can be.

If we fail to put ethics at the forefront in the workplace, culture can devolve into being largely driven by politics and expedience. Leaders today are besieged by demands for profitability, sustainability and practicality. In the face of these trio of stressors, it is tempting to push ethics into the back. On the contrary, we should resolutely develop a mindset guided by ethics among our people. This will enable us to confront the challenges of redefining people practices with wisdom and zeal for uplifting workplace culture. Hence, we must make the call to revisit ethics in the new normal.

It takes everyone in the organization to uphold ethics and create a culture of integrity. From the top leadership team to the most junior new hire, we are all responsible. As the table below shows, we each take a piece of the action. Here are top of mind characteristics of the new workplace which should be influenced by ethics. There are more than these three, but for the purpose of this article let’s focus on the three for now. I am sure that as we bring the discussion into our board rooms, management meetings and employee townhalls, more concerns will be voiced which will lead to an ongoing conversation. Imagine people at all levels thinking about ethics. That would be such a welcome development in thought leadership! As we make ethics a topic that people examine frequently, it becomes more embedded in our culture.

Each scenario should be addressed with alignment in perspective from both the management and employees. Let us harness the hard-earned lessons gleaned from the past two years of struggle in the pandemic. The years 2020-2021 made many to suffer in some way. I doubt if I will ever forget the rush to design new policies for work when the lockdown was announced, operating in a context wherein we did not know what to expect. And doing the rethinking in the midst of changing physical facilities and logistics for building administration, visitor entry processes, setting up employee health tracking mechanisms and many more in the rush within weeks when the lockdown occurred. We can turn the suffering into opportunities, transforming hardship into victory by co-creating not just a new, but a better normal where ethics becomes a hallmark of our people and culture.

Work anywhere, anytime

When we were on lockdown, companies who used to be traditional and office-time based discovered the wonderful side of a flexible workplace arrangement for jobs which are not dependent on onsite machinery, materials and processes. The crisis gave us opportunities to save on cost of real estate, utilities and related expenses on maintaining a worksite for everyone.

As the world continues to open up and more people work onsite, some leaders may tend to favor the old normal and compel people to work in the office. The old bias is that people are more productive when they are onsite and more easily supervised. We need to examine this bias and challenge the thought. Is proximity is really necessary for productivity? If we ask people to track their hours, should it always equal eight exactly hours in a day? We need to encourage our people to be honest, even while we extend an open mind that there will be time spent in thinking, planning, calls that need not be quantified in minutes.

Working anywhere, anytime gave tremendous freedom for personal space and productivity rhythms. As individuals, we need to bear in mind that with so many diverse people in our organizations, we must still recognize the need for consistency in availability and delivery of results.

Virtual environment

The work anywhere, anytime scenario also creates stress for the employee. When you are on leave, you likely continue to receive messages on viber and instant messaging, mixed up with your personal messages. We should take into consideration the need to respect personal time and individual privacy. The office laptop is connected to the company’s server and can be accessed anytime for checking by the IT administrator. Since most people also use their company laptops to access viber and instant messaging, the company gains access to their personal data and other sensitive information. With the wealth of personal information that is stored, we need to define the boundaries on what the company will peep into. We need to teach our people not to abuse this virtual environment, even if there are no explicit rules or no one watching.

Health Maximization

 The gift we received from our pandemic experience is the reminder of how fragile life can be. Many people take health, whether physical or mental, for granted. What covid taught us is we cannot assume that we are safe from threat. Wellness programs in companies now look more at holistic well-being, with emphasis on mental and emotional stability. It is the ethical responsibility of leadership to ensure that we allow our people to feel safe when dealing with us, and that we do not become the threat to their well-being. When the boss becomes the source of stress, we fail as bosses to nurture our people.

 Ethical issues in the workplace cover unethical leadership such as compelling people to work even when they are not feeling well due to deadlines that we set, or not providing back-up for sick workers. We know now that even if a person who acquired covid has been declared clear of the infection and have served the quarantine period, the lingering effects continue for a month or more. If the boss does not acknowledge the lingering effects, the tendency is to expect the person to work in full capacity. Caring for well-being means we make adjustments on timelines for delivery for post-covid recovery.

 For employees, being given consideration compels us to reciprocate with a greater sense of responsibility for our health and that of others. We need to think of how our actions may impact others.

 In closing, the journey ahead remains full of uncertainty. Who knows when or what will be the next global crisis? Upholding ethics sets the right tone at the top and will take us to higher ground. No matter how large or small our sphere of influence might be, our personal and corporate reputations rest on our commitment to ethics today and always.

Note : This article is condensed from the original published by the Financial Executives of the Philippines (FINEX) last November 2022 in its ethics book on the topic “ ETHICS: ENDURING OR EVOLVING?”.