Introduction
These last couple of years have been unprecedented, and companies that are reopening will have to make difficult decisions to adapt to the changed reality of the pandemic world. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been many changes in the way business is handled and this is true of how they handle their employees. With any approach to an ethical challenge, it is imperative that employers regroup and think through the ramifications of their actions. In addition, they should remember and practice empathy as much as they can when they communicate with employees returning to work, because everyone’s situation is different. The one size fits all approach no longer applies, so communication has to adapt to fit these changing times.
This research will highlight two major ethical concerns: first, unreasonable pressure from business management to meet deadlines that would foster the recovery of the business and second, inconsiderate groupings of all employees, irrespective of their medical underlying factors. By doing so, the question on the kind of ethical issues arising in the business sector as a result of the global pandemic will be addressed. Such issues are common in accounting businesses but can also be seen in other business genres. These define their context and applicable background. A concise analysis will be provided from where proper conclusions and recommendations will be made.
Methodology
This research paper makes use of academic sources that range from journals to books and to reports. The sources are chosen based on their credibility and contribution to the topic at hand. The selection of the sources will also be based on their time of release. Since the discussion on ethical issues facing businesses is in the context of the pandemic, it will only be prudent that the materials used in the analysis come from the same time period as the coronavirus pandemic. This will imply that the sources can only be dated up to four years ago.
The research will employ the use of content analysis as a strategy for the assessment of sources. In reference to Kleinheksel and et al. (2019), this research tool determines themes and/or concepts within qualitative data. By objectively and systematically identifying special characteristics of concepts, content analysis provides an avenue for assessment. Using it, an individual can analyse, as well as quantify the presence of relationships that define certain messages in a literature text. Therefore, the strategy serves best for the assessment of sources that define ethical issues in business in the face of a pandemic. The analysis is done by breaking down the communicative language text into manageable code categories (Kleinheksel et al., 2019). In this case, the sources will be categories in terms of points that express ideas and the evidence supporting them. Such breaking down makes the analysis easier and straight forward for both the writer and the soon to be reader.
Analysis and Discussion
Unprecedented Expectations
Employer Expectations
COVID-19 has exacerbated employer expectations, a situation that has in turn raised ethical concerns. The pressure amounting on businesses to recover from the global pandemic is seeing management require too much of the workers. This consequently ends up getting the workers overworked and underplayed (International Federation of Accountants (IFA), 2021). According to Ranjan (2021), the ripple effect begins from the client’s expectation of normal service delivery despite the crisis at hand. Having in mind that most businesses are currently understaffed or have half of their workforce working from home, such expectations are unrealistic. Nevertheless, businesses are lead to make promises that are almost impossible to actualize and the ones that bear the burden are the employees (IFA, 2021). The most significant case is that of Clair Peterson v Kizuri Capital Pty Ltd where an employee (Clair) was laid off by her employer because of ‘misconduct due to performance’ (Golding, 2021). Clair was at that time working as a sales representative for Tamania, its Northern territories, and South Australia.
The company decided to increase Clair’s responsibilities by including Queensland, another major territory. She was expected to discharge her duties effectively even though her remuneration remained the same (Golding, 2021). To make matters worse, the employer demanded daily, as well as weekly reports on all the territories covered. It became apparent that the company was overlaying unreasonable expectations on her when they decided to reduce pay by 20% and also reduce working hours by the same percentage and still expect same results (Golding, 2021). Up to this point, Clair was expected to still bring back the reports of her sales to all the territories allocated her. As a consequence, she was forced to work extra time, including during her free time to finish the assignments. When she failed to provide the reports ‘on time’, the company went ahead to retrench her. This example is significant in illustrating the effects COVID-19 has had on the ethical standing of business organizations.
Landscape Recovery Expectations
Another angle of pressure received by enterprises at such times come from the rapidly shifting landscape during the recovery process. Such high expectations way on the decisions and judgements made by the management. This has led most of them to disregard ethics that define employee and employer relations. This follows a partial or complete misheard of traditional transactional procedures that uphold fundamental business principles of professionalism, objectivity, competency, and due care (Boiral et al., 2021). Instead of adhering to the code of conduct that has defined the industry throughout history, employees are choosing an easier way out and wholesomely neglecting the conceptual framework.
Disregard for Employees’ Underlying Health Concerns
Another ethical issue arises from company’s’ disregard for their employees’ health history. In line with the measures issued out by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and WHO health organizations, people with underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible to severe illness if infected with the COVID-19 virus are advised to be cautious (CDC, n.d.). This group ranges from patients suffering from cancer to diabetes and even to those with heart conditions. If the entire list is considered, one would realise that it defines most of the population that comprises of business workers.
The incapability of organizations to consider such groups when reinventing themselves has brought out this ethical issue. According to the guidelines provided by the International Labour Organisation (IFO), businesses are required to conduct a risk assessment to ascertain the risks and hazards existing in their workplace (Iavicoli et al., 2021). Providing a healthy environment for its employees to thrive requires that organizations have information that would help create such (Boiral, et al., 2021). Endangering the workers in this case would be not providing them with surgical masks, not creating avenues for social distancing, among others. This includes and is not limited to what would affect the workers’ health directly or indirectly. Subjecting workers to an environment that puts their health at risk is the ethical concern.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The paper responds to the research question asked in the introduction part by providing two cases of ethical issues that were created by the pandemic. It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the code of principles that govern relationships between employees and their employers. On top of the already existing ethical concerns that defined the business industry, the outbreak of the pandemic introduced additional issues to the spectrum. The most significant instances where ethical issues have risen are during the recovery period. Since most, businesses incurred losses during the pandemic, managements have aimed at restoring themselves back to their former glory. The ethical concerns come when aspects of the defining principles are neglected. Such actions lead to two situations; employees being overworked with underpayments to achieve certain gains and employees being exposed to unhealthy office environment. It becomes clear that COVID-19 is causing another wave of ethical concerns that are related to aspects of business.
Businesses are advised to exercise the utmost level of professionalism. Since the different health organizations have drafted measures to be taken by the employees and employers in an effort to reduce spread of the virus, maintaining ethical behaviour is made easy. For the first ethical issue, businesses are advised to bear reasonable expectations on their employees (Rao et al., 2021). This can be achieved through consistent communication between the employees and the employers. For the second ethical concern, organizations are advised to carry out intensive research on their employees and similarly identify risks that would jeopardised their health.
References
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Centers for disease control and prevention. Web.
Golding, G. (2021). Unfair Dismissal and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Adaptations and Creative Responses from Australia’s Fair Work CommissioN [Ebook] (pp. 1-19). Geneva. Web.
Iavicoli, S., Boccuni, F., Buresti, G., Gagliardi, D., Persechino, B., Valenti, A., & Rondinone, B. (2021). Risk assessment at work and prevention strategies on COVID-19 in Italy.PLoS One, 16(3), e0248874. Web.
International federation of accountants. (2021). 5 Ethics Challenges that Will Intensify as the Pandemic Wanes. New York. Web.
Kleinheksel, A., Rockich-Winston, N., Tawfik, H., & Wyatt, T. (2019). Demystifying content analysis.American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84(1), 7113. Web.
Ranjan, N. (2021). How the pandemic has impacted customer expectations. Forbes. Web.
Rao, Y., Saleem, A., Saeed, W., & Ul Haq, J. (2021). Online consumer satisfaction during COVID-19: Perspective of a developing country.Frontiers in Psychology, 12. Web.