Ethics is a vital aspect in business and workplace. Since most people spend almost 70% of their time in their workplaces, it is only expected that they will encounter ethical dilemmas. It is no exception for me. During my 6.5 years of working experience in my previous employment as a Deputy Planning Manager in the Land Transport Authority (LTA), I came across a situation that put me in a difficult position and a dilemma in which I had to make a decision which would cause significant impact to another person.
As the Deputy Planning Manager, I had to personally lead and coach a sub-team of three members to manage major infrastructure projects such as the Circle Line and Tuas West Extension which involve providing project planning support, progress monitoring and reporting against baseline, coordination with contractors, scenario studies and mitigation analysis to ensure timely completion of the projects.
In 2012, I was tasked to take charge of a new recruit who had just graduated and was specially recruited by the HR from China. I was responsible to provide regular advice and guidance to her on daily work processes and assignments. It was LTA’s policy that all new recruits are to be placed under a six-month probation, hence my responsibility also include appraisal of the recruit’s performance during the probation period and recommendation for her confirmation of the job based on her performance.
As I was only newly promoted into the job of the Deputy Planning Manager, I had no prior experience in guiding a new recruit and appraising her performance. Nevertheless, I put in my best efforts to make the new recruit feel welcome to the team by organizing welcome lunches with the team and the department colleagues. In terms of work, I also personally briefed her on her work scope and responsibilities and provided one-to-one training on the software tool which is essential for fulfilling the job requirements. Due to the nature of work and shortage of manpower, each employee was expected to familiarize with the job duties and to be able to work independently so as to provide valuable planning support to our internal customers, i.e. the project engineers.
Despite the hours of personal training and additional supplementary coaching lessons after work hours, the new recruit failed to achieve satisfactory performance. I had, on several accounts, provided feedback to on her performance which was not up to standards and encouraged her to step up her performance.
The onset of the first dilemma occurred at the end of the 6-month probation period when I was required to appraise her work performance. Prior to conducting the performance appraisal, I was reminded by my Department Head that it is important to provide an honest assessment of the employee’s performance. I was also aware that it is essential to consider my own biases that could potentially affect my judgment and make conscious efforts to refrain from committing the possible mistakes and avoid the slippery slope.
Frankly speaking, I did not face a tough decision in putting forth my honest opinions and appraisal of the new recruit. The thought of nuancing the appraisal results to recommend a pass for her probation did cross my mind, however as a professional, I adhered to my professionalism to perform a fair and just appraisal. Notwithstanding this, taking into consideration that the new recruit although lacking in analytical skills, self-motivation and other areas of work, she was considered hardworking and humble in seeking for guidance, I decided to give her another chance by recommending to extend her probation period for another three months.
As part of the performance appraisal process, I revealed to the recruit the appraisal results of her probation and highlighted to her the areas of improvement to be made. I also emphasized to her the likely consequence of being rejected of a permanent position if she did not show satisfactory improvements to meet the job requirements at the end of the additional three months’ period. She appeared dejected and disappointed with the results, but promised to put in extra efforts to improve her performance.
Although I could see that she did display certain efforts over the additional probation period and I did receive feedbacks from other colleagues that she had been spending long hours after work in the office and even on Saturdays, however, there was no significant improvements in the quality of her work which lacked the critical analytical skills on assessing project progress and proposing mitigation measures. In addition, there were negative feedbacks from other team members whom were affected because they had to spend excessive time in guiding the recruit step-by-step over the same procedures for multiple times.
When the 3-month probation term was approaching, I did an honest review of her performance and decided to fail her probation appraisal as she genuinely did not meet the standards. Before submitting the appraisal to the HR department, I sat down with her to disclose the appraisal results. Out of my expectations, the recruit started to burst into tears and confided in me that her mother was diagnosed with cancer six months ago and she was very worried about her health, hence she could not focus on her work which led to her poor performance. I was at a loss on seeing her reaction and could only offered her comforting words and a hug to soothe her down. She subsequently begged me to amend the appraisal results so that she could continue to stay on the job as she badly needed the income to support her mother’s medical fees.
This request put me into a tight spot. On one hand, I was empathetic towards her plight and would like to offer help within my possible means. From personal point of view, the recruit had a mild personality and we got along quite well. We would often had lunch together where we would share common conversation topics and interests in reading. I had developed friendship with her, thus standing from a friend’s perspective, I felt responsible as I knew that she could do with the financial income.
On the other hand, I was cognizant of my duty to put up an ethical performance appraisal which was truthful in reflecting the actual performance of the employee. To distort the appraisal results intentionally so as to help the recruit in securing her livelihood was against my work ethics as a professional. In addition, lying blatantly was also against my moral values and philosophical beliefs. Hence, the dilemma. I struggled internally for a few days, mainly on the reason that her mother’s medical condition could worsen if she lost her job and this could be a life at stake. However, eventually I figured that going ahead to falsify the performance appraisal would be against company’s objectives; most importantly, it would be unfair and unjust to the rest of the team and to counterparts in the entire organization as well as the past recruits who had failed the probation test and rejected.