'A Ticking Bomb'

Don't Let Workplace Wrongdoing Destroy Your Career

By Kris Maher
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Teri Lyn Norwood started working as an accounts payable clerk for McLellan Equipment, a company that makes truck bodies, in March 1996. A year and a half later, she began manipulating company checks and diverting funds to her own personal bank account. By the time she got caught two years later, she had embezzled about $18,000.

Ms. Norwood says she had been facing extreme pressures when she falsified her first check. Her younger brother had died recently, her father was ill and she owed her ex-husband $20,000 in child-support payments that she had to return. She says she asked the company for a loan, but was denied.

"I just thought the only way out of this mess was to embezzle money," she says. "In the back of my mind I really thought, 'I can go ahead and put this money back in somehow or another.'"

Ms. Norwood, 44 years old, has paid a steep price for that decision. In July 2000, she was released from a maximum-security prison after being incarcerated for 13 months. Much of that time, she lived in a cell with seven other women and was physically attacked on several occasions, she says. Now living in Tehachapi, Calif., she is looking for a job with a staffing agency or as a receptionist, but moving on with her life has been tough. "The chances of getting work are so remotely thin," she says.

Easier to Get Caught

As the personal accounts that have emerged from recent corporate scandals show, the risks to one's career-and in some cases, the risk of jail time-are often hard to calculate when people face ethical dilemmas in the workplace. Cautionary tales don't necessarily make ethical decisions any simpler. Experts say that in today's feeble job market some employees worried about keeping their jobs may succumb more easily to managerial pressures to take unethical shortcuts. More unemployed workers may also face temptations, to lie on a resume, for example.

What every worker should know, however, is that at most companies it is getting easier to get caught doing something unethical, whether it seems minor or not. To meet new laws on corporate governance, more companies are encouraging workers to report questionable behavior they observe in the workplace, and are providing hotlines and other ways for workers to come forward anonymously. Companies are also more running more detailed background checks on future and current employees.

"Anyone who has lied on their resume, or even significantly fudged it, is more likely now than ever before to get found out," says Pam Dixon, author of "Job Searching Online for Dummies." That goes for unethical behavior in the workplace as well, she says. Even if these actions have so far escaped detection, people "need to know they are sitting on a ticking bomb."

Unethical workplace behavior can range from the pilfering of pens and copier paper to large-scale accounting fraud. Misconduct in the workplace is fairly common. According to the Ethics Resource Center, 22% of employees observed misconduct in the workplace this year. The most common types of misconduct include misreporting hours worked; lying to employees, customers, vendors or the public; and stealing, theft or related fraud.

For people who are feeling pressured to do something they think could be unethical, the main rule to remember is to "ask before you act," says Keith Greene, director of organizational programs at the Society for Human Resource Management. Mr. Greene recommends discussing the matter with a direct supervisor (as long as the pressure is coming from someone else). If that gets you nowhere, contact a human-resources staffer or a company ombudsman who handles complaints confidentially.

It is useful to remember a key characteristic of ombudsmen, especially if you are unsure about whether an action violates a policy or the law. In general, when you inform a manager about potential unethical behavior, that person is obligated to investigate the matter. According to the Ombudsman Association, however, a corporate ombudsman isn't obligated to take any action, and also isn't required to divulge any information-not even your name-to management or to a court or regulatory organization.

Bite the Bullet

If you have done something unethical and are haunted by it, you should probably bite the bullet and come clean about your actions, say ethics experts.

"There's no question the employee is throwing themselves at the mercy of the organization," says Mr. Greene. But the alternatives-getting caught when one's career is further along, or living with the anxiety of being found out-are potentially more damaging, he argues.

"By being forthright, they may very well lose their job and suffer some short-term setback, but in the long run they will be better off," agrees Bruce Weinstein, president of Ethics at Work, an ethics consulting company. Although there are no guarantees a company won't fire you, you can still put "the best possible spin" on a confession, he says. He advises people to acknowledge their mistakes and their remorse, and essentially say, "I value my relationship with the company, and I want to wipe the slate clean."

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is just how destructive and far-reaching unethical actions can end up being.

Walter Pavlo Jr., a former senior finance manager at MCI, who served more than a year and a half in prison for money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice, says that he started out by manipulating accounting at the telecom company with management's tacit approval back in 1995. Then he developed his own scheme to bilk customers out of roughly $5 million. Today, Mr. Pavlo, 40, presents himself as a cautionary tale to corporate audiences, as he waits for an employer willing to accept his past and hire him as a consultant.

"After a while, I want to stop being an example of what not to do," says Mr. Pavlo.

What would you do if you saw a co-worker doing something illegal or unethical? Write to us.