Open the newspaper and you'll find ethical crises like embezzlement, fraud, or misuse of company products or services making the headlines. High profile ethical breaches like these all have to do with something near and dear to a company's heart; its assets.
This is known in the workplace as the "stuff" which the company has paid for and that you use every day. When it comes to company assets (in any form) things get serious. Mess with the money or the stuff, and you'll end up in hot water really fast. On the surface, this seems cut and dried, but is it as easy as it sounds?
For those of us without power and influence, ethically taking care of company assets may be a non-issue. You show up for work, do your job, and go home without engaging in any high finance or legal maneuvers. Little did you know, during your seemingly routine day, you had hundreds or even thousands of dollars of assets under your control. With all the stuff that passes you by each day at work, you probably never think about it in terms of assets and your responsibility.
Do you drive a company car, work on a computer, or maintain equipment? Do you use a company credit card or expense account? Do you have access to or are you responsible for intellectual property or company records? All these are examples of assets. Some are physical and some are intangible, such as company secrets, trademarks, and confidential information. Every employee from the janitor to the executive controls some kind of asset every time he or she shows up for work.
Most people don't give company assets a second thought until they are lost, stolen or broken. Herein lies the problem. Employees must understand that ethical behavior is demonstrated not only in how they act toward others but also in how they treat property that doesn't belong to them. The key to success is understanding who owns what and what boundaries exist for its use.
Your mother may have said, "treat other people's property as if it were your own." As a child, if you borrowed a toy, you took extra special care of it. As a guest in another home you didn't touch anything that wasn't yours. Why doesn't this lesson seem to transfer to the company's property where we work?
As an adult, you know better. Caring for assets doesn't matter as much because the company always has enough money to replace the stuff we break or use up. If no one else cares, why should we? But those simple moral truths from childhood don't grow obsolete with age. The fact is, we should care about how we treat property that isn't ours.
