Ethics Questions

[soleft]

You've interviewed at two places. Place A offers you a job. You let Place B know you have an offer on the table. Place A pressures you, and Place B hasn't gotten back to you, so you accept Place A's offer.

Place B gets back to you right after you accept and offers a better deal.

Are you ethically bound to go with Place A.

[trotsky]

1. Ethically, yes, I think.

But I don't know that it should stop you. A guy I wanted to hire pulled this on us. I couldn't blame him, though. I don't know about the compensation, but it would have been a long drive for him to our business, but the other offer was from a place just down the street from him.

You have to look out for #1, because businesses don't make decisions based on ethics.

[afraid_of_the_dark]

2. Ethically, I would say yes, you should go with Place A...

But speaking realistically, I'd say screw them and go with Place B. Businesses don't seem to care about their employees anymore, so why should you care about them? Might as well follow the money - that's what the business is going to do anyway.

Sorry... I'm really not normally this cynical and bitter, but I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

[Az]

3. No

Course I may just be speaking from having watched a friend get laid off today in the office so am of the opinion that corporations have no loyalty to people. Based on the idea that you treat others as you would have them treat you, corporations show no loyalty other than to their own financial gain. This is what they should expect in return. You must go with whichever offers you the better package. The corporations are not on your side so you must be.

[furrylitldevil]

10. Well said

Corporations only look after their own bottom line, why shouldn't we as employees? I'm sure the CEO would understand, how else did he get to be CEO than by taking the best options available?

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Ethically yes, but it's your life....

Try to weasel out as gracefully as possible.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. Ask place "A" !! - maybe they'll "match" or better the deal !!

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[Fleshdancer]

6. Does place A or B really give a shit about you??

If yes, then I think you would have an obligation, but if you're just another employee and nothing more, then you are responsible for taking care of yourself, not the company. If B is the better deal, then don't sell yourself short on company A when they would most likely cut you if they thought their profits would go up because of it.

[SOteric]

7. I'd say no, depending upon

how soon 'right after you accept' actually is in terms of time. If it's the same day and you haven't begun work or even filled out the processing papers, then no I do not believe you're ethically bound to employment with Place A. You will in no way leave them inconvenienced, and a diplomatically worded retraction of your acceptance should satisfy any concerns of good manners.

If you've already begun work and started to process the paperwork and fill in the insurance forms, then yes, you're honour-bound to work with Place A, and wonder what could have been with Place B.

[Bunny]

9. Exactly. Depends on a few things.

If you haven't even reported for work yet at Company A, then I say you owe them no particular loyalty. Give them a tactful explanation and then go with Company B.

However, as someone who hires and trains new employees, if you had actually started working for me at Company A and then left, say within the first week or two, for a better offer, then I'd be pretty PO'ed (even if secretly I couldn't blame you). You probably won't spend the rest of your career with any one company, but it's a small world and the person you piss off today may also change jobs, and could be your potential boss tomorrow.

However, as many others have pointed out, most companies don't give a crap about their employees, so looking out for Number One is just self-preservation. Go with what works best for you.

[regularguy]

8. Not really...

Does place A really want someone who would rather be somewhere else? I wouldn't. Sounds like a relatively sweet problem anyway......