Corporate policies and Social Responsibilities
I. Our Values and Principles
At TechFite, we take pride in our ability to achieve commercial success while at the same time treating our employees, partners, customers and the communities that we work in with honesty, integrity, transparency, and respect. We believe that we can ethically produce value for all stakeholders at home and abroad. To ensure that we are able to accomplish these goals, we have established the following core corporate polices. While we believe that these policies are sufficient to live up to our established corporate culture and environment, hat does not mean that they are unchangeable. We will periodically update them as is necessary. We also invite suggestions, recommendations or comments on the policies or ideas on how they can be amended for increased effectiveness.
II. Our Core Corporate Policies
1. Create and Maintain a Respectful Workplace
Our employees are what makes us successful. Accordingly, to the best of our ability we will endeavor to pay or employees a competitive wage, as compared to other leading companies in our industry and location. This policy will be effective to employees at every level.
In the instance where budgets are limited and we cannot offer a competitive salary, we will provide employee with the opportunity to exchange the difference in salary with other companies, for the equal amount in shares of TechFite (Dahl, 2016). Not only do we believe this will make up for any shortcomings in salary and wages but it will also honor our commitment to employee engagement as they would become partial owners of the company with a direct say in how it is managed.
Regardless of the wage, we also guarantee that the employees will be rewarded for their hard work, dedication, and professionalism by providing opportunities of advancement, and improvements on their skills and capabilities. Any salary or bonuses that are rewarded will be based on clear and unambiguous standards. No employee will receive a bonus without a showing that they deserve a bonus. Furthermore, no bonuses will be rewarded if the company is struggling financially
It is also our policy to encourage our employees to personally help out their communities, such as through volunteering. To this end, we will provide each employee with a set number of hours each year in which we will pay their salary in exchange to volunteer or otherwise positively contribute to the community.
We also believed that our word is our bond. Accordingly, any commitment that we make towards our communities we will carry them out. We will honor these commitments directly for indirectly through the work of our staff.
2. Ethical Issues at Stake
The current situation at TechFite’s Dellberg facility has a number of ethically questionable issues that must be resolved in order for it to match the ethical standards set be TechFite’s home office. First, the fact company executives are taking home excessive bonus has a number of ethical questions. There is the conflict of interest between executive and shareholders it creates where executives are either excessively cautious in order to secure a bonus; or excessively prone to risk taking if the bonus will be rewarded regardless of performance outcome. Moreover, the fact that executives are getting bonuses when hourly employees are struggling to make enough to satisfy a 40-hour work week, diametrically opposes the company’s emphasis on fairness and creating value for all stakeholders, rather than putting the desires and interests of one groups before another (Freeman & Liedtka, 1991). To be sure, requiring one group of workers to sacrifice, while another overconsumes, is questionable from most ethical frameworks.
Second, making a commitment that others are moved to rely on, then failing to follow through on that commitment is ethically questionable whether in business or any other form of human interaction. Specifically, the fact that the TechFite Dellberg facility has publicly stated that it will support community events, local youth development programs, as well as provide investment into local community infrastructure but then failed to honor its word is an ethical failure on a number of levels. It fails to illustrate our integrity. It goes against they widely held belief of our commitment to our communities, and it suggests that we are dishonest
It is important to note that these issues are not legal issues. In other words, it is not illegal to award executive with substantial bonus or creatively schedule workers so that more can work for less hours. Moreover, as long as there is no contract, it is not illegal to break a commitment one has made. Nevertheless, in the three issues discussed above, we must be above reproach if we hope to attract and maintain customers and clients.
3. We believed that the corporate policies mentioned above will a long way to ensuring that the TechFite Dellberg facility will satisfy if not surpass the ethical standards set forth by the home office. Moreover, we have established the role of ethics officer to monitor the implementation of the policies. Specifically, the ethics officer will be somewhat like a traffic police (Markkula, 2015). That is, the ethics officer will provide a clear and unambiguous reminder to all that they are expected to act ethically generally, and specifically according to the policy. Moreover, the ethics officer will be tasked with “pulling over” clear violators of the policy, and issuing increasingly heavy punishments for repeat offenders.
III. Our Corporate Social Responsibility
1. As mentioned, being the best possible citizen and neighbor in the communities that we work in is one of our primary goals as a company. We accomplish this in a wide range of activities that seek to assist the community in any way it needs help.
2. We admit that our goal is not wholly altruistic. Being a good citizen is also important in improving the company’s reputation. A good reputation creates value. First, having a good reputation increases the chances that customers will buy our products to support our efforts. That is to say, customers will be more willing to buy our products than a competitor.
Second, having a good reputation in the community will lead to an increased interest in the community of those who want to work with us. There is nothing bad with a healthy competition among potential employees for a position on our staff. We would then have the luxury of choosing the best of the best rather than accepting any and all who apply.
Third, having a good reputation will provide us with a larger “benefit of the doubt” from our staff, partners, and shareholders if and when the company encounters difficulties such as our current budgetary crisis. With a lesser reputation, staff may decide to change jobs earlier and shareholders may have less patience with our plans.
3. The ethically and socially responsible courses of action that we plan on taking in order to address the issues at the TechFite Dellberg facility have been described above. First, all bonus must be based on evidence to support its reward. Moreover, bonuses that are rewarded will be proportionate to the benefit obtained. Lastly, no bonuses will be awarded in times of financial difficulties. Second, low wages will be supplemented by the choice of obtaining shares in the company. Third, we pledge a commitment to helping in the community. Once a pledge is made it will be honored either directly through company efforts or through the encouragement of employee led efforts. Employees will be paid for their efforts.
4. The course of action explained above is ethically responsible in that it supports a number of ethical values that are commonly considered to illustrate proper behavior in doing business. For instance, they ensure that the company is honest, fair, has integrity, and committed to being a good citizen. Similarly, the course of action is socially responsible because it ensures our goal of creating value for all stakeholder. This can only be possible by taking into consideration the interests of all stakeholders and finding a way or means in which each stakeholder’s interest is at least partially realized. That is to say it creates a positive-sum gain for all stakeholders whether they are company executives, staff members, the community or shareholders. The course of action can be environmentally responsible if one of the needs that the community wants assistance in, such as the creation of a company bus to pick up and return employees, is wanted.
References
Dahl, D. (2016, May 02). What’s so special about employee-owned companies like New Belgium brewing? Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrendahl/2016/05/02/whats-so-special-about-employee-owned-companies-like-new-belgium-brewing/#1ebd5d0d353f
Freeman, R.E. & J. Liedtka. (1991). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Critical Approach. Business Horizons, 34(4). 92-98.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (Markkula). (2015, Oct.07). Role and responsibilities of ethics and compliance officer. Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/role-and-responsibilities-of-ethics-and-compliance/
