SCENARIO: You own a business and are doing fairly well. Your friends know you are doing well, since you regularly pick up the tab when you all go out for drinks after work. One of these friends has had trouble getting a job and comes to you asking for one. You hire your friend for a sales position, knowing that there is one glaring reason that you shouldn’t have. Survivors’ guilt or bad business decision? Read on….
BACKGROUND: On the surface it seems that hiring friends might be the issue, but it’s not. There is much more to the story and as an employer, it’s up to us to do our due diligence and make sure our hiring is done with ethics and integrity in mind. The back story to this hypothetical situation is this: your friend has two DUI’s and has actually spent time in jail for these offenses. Fortunately no one was injured, but the offenses are still pretty serious. And, your friend lost their license, so you now have a sales person, in a position where they must drive to locations, driving with no valid license, AND YOU KNOW ABOUT IT.
So the question is, is it survivors’ guilt, since you have a position, and have the ability to hire your friend, or is an act of arrogance and a really bad business decision? I’m not a lawyer, nor to do I play one on TV, but I would think that there is some sort of liability as an employer, having an employee with no valid license (in a position where they have to drive) due to two DUI’s, AND YOU KNOW ABOUT IT. So, you have knowingly put someone in a position of further trouble, and have probably taken on some risk as well.
What about the clients you are sending this person to? What happens when they find out? Does that damage your reputation or increase your sense of compassion in their eyes? Will they see it as survivors’ guilt or a really bad business decision?
Regardless of friendship, I would think doing the right thing would take precedence. And by doing the right thing, I mean obeying certain laws and protocols. Hiring someone for a position which they are unable to perform FOR LEGAL REASONS seems a bit like arrogance to me. Unless they take the bus to appointments. THAT would be legal. Good thing this is a hypothetical scenario. I’d hate to be the employer in this situation.
You decide…Survivors guilt or really bad business decision?