ASK HR: My colleague is revealing company secrets to a rival
Would it be unfair to let the management know what has been happening, knowing too well that she risks being fired. PHOTO| FILE
What you need to know:
- Consider the dividends of acting in the spirit of good corporate citizenship, and the words of Frederick Douglass: “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Q.Whenever we attend our weekly sales executives’ meeting, we brainstorm on how to increase the company sales. Afterwards, my colleague shares the ideas with her boyfriend, who works for a rival company. I have warned her several times, but she won’t listen. Would it be unfair to let the management know what has been happening, knowing too well that she risks being fired?
The ideas that are acted upon by a business to generate value form an essential part of resources without which its survival would be undermined.
Every such idea that emanates from your weekly brainstorming meetings represents value, no less than other company assets. One would not be stretching the meaning of company property to include useful ideas that yield benefit for the business.
In many workplaces, besides bringing disciplinary action to bear on a member of staff who violates company policy, there are consequences reserved for those who are aware of, but do not report such violations.
By witnessing the drainage of your company’s competitive information and the transfer of advantage to a rival business with no consideration at all, you would be abetting misconduct. If your colleague had been pilfering money and giving the same to her suitor in the rival company, would you find it right to protect her from the risk of being fired? And if this were your company, would you grant her similar indulgence?
The loss of a few ideas may presently appear insignificant. With time however, it may invite the detriment of not only the business, but possibly your own employment. It is advisable to bring the matter to the attention of your management. Your colleague is probably equally aware of the possible negative consequences that would befall her if her actions were to be discovered. Her persistent wrongdoing is an emblem of insolence regarding whose disclosure you must not chastise yourself unduly.
Consider the dividends of acting in the spirit of good corporate citizenship, and the words of Frederick Douglass: “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
