Legal and Ethical Issues in the Workplace Essay

Legal and Ethical Issues in the Workplace - Essay Example Such an environment guarantees success of the goal. Leaders of an organization are expected to lead higher standards of morality in a workplace. It has been observed that companies that observe ethical decisions show more productivity by employee and turnover ratio is very low. It has also been observed that companies who observe ethical decisions just because they have to be complied to are usually hostile environments and human resources seldom wish to retain in such companies (â€Å"Ethics in the Workplace Training Helps Employees Understand their Personal Obligations  » Workplace Answers†, n.d.). In order to protect the moral standards of a work place and to ensure that people are happy to work together, laws are put in place. These laws comprise of explaining a code of conduct and some ethical policies. Consequences of violation of these laws are also elaborated in these laws. This check and balance ensures that people know their rights and decide to work in a way that will not put them into serious legal complications. The consumers benefit from an ethical environment as well. They become loyal customers of the brand when they realize that the company keeps its integrity intact by displaying a good sense of responsibility (â€Å"Ethics in the Workplace Training Helps Employees Understand their Personal Obligations  » Workplace Answers†, n.d.). Alcohol and drug usage is a concern at work places as its usage is synonymous to an irresponsible attitude. A serious attitude is required at workplace. It has been observed that people who use drugs or alcohol tend to take more leaves from office and hence are not regular employees. Another study reveals that the productivity declines with the usage of alcohol or drugs. It is estimated that people who use it are ten to sixty percent less likely to perform well as compared to people who do not indulge in it. It is also known that drug abuse and excessive alcohol usage calls for frequent accidents ( Raskin, 1993, p. 45-81). This may result in legal complications. Employees feel being accused if they are asked to get themselves checked at workplace. They find it a breach in their privacy and do not accept the test as socially important. They also feel being controlled. There is a need to make them understand that this measure is taken as a safety precaution majorly. They should be discouraged from discriminating people. They should be trained to encourage the impacted colleagues to stop its usage when coming to work and to lead a healthy life by controlling the abuse. Employees are usually monitored at work places by using cameras or even key loggers on their systems. Employers feel that they are gaining knowledge about their business this way. They think it will help them maintain this knowledge. It is suggested in research that the monitoring should be transparent and people should be made accountable to maintain knowledge effectively and not be secretly monitoring it. It has been estimated that a company that has 500 employees that spend time on internet for half an hour a day, the loss the company bears is approximately one million dollars (Yerby, 2013, p. 45-48). On the other hand labor unions claim that electronic monitoring induces stress in the work place and makes the organization use it in negative ways against the employers too. They use emails for communication