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Work related moral dilemma
mindatrisk
Veteran
Hello...
4 months ago I applied for a job at where I volunteered. The job was an overnight support worker, and it was a sleep-in role, i.e. I had a bed, I could sleep overnight, but I had to be available if a client needed assistance. I got the job, but a few days later I was told that the man in charge of the funding for the job role from the local housing office had decided that the role could not be sleep-in, but instead I (and the other guy doing my opposite shifts) would have to stay awake all night.
The reason I applied for this job in particular was because i'd be able to continue volunteering through the day, which is what I most love. Obviously, staying awake all night would mean that i'd have to sleep through the day. I emailed my manager when this change was announced and told him that I would sleep through the shift anyway since that was what the initial role was for and I saw no reason to obey one man who has nothing to do with our organisation.
So, over the 4 months i've done the job I have mostly slept, except for one 4 week period where I attempted to stay up all night and sleep through the (sunny) days, which was very, very difficult, and required a lot of coffee (not good for my health).
I'd just like to know what people here think. On the one hand I am being dishonest because the job is now meant to be a stay-awake role, and I expect that my manager believes that I am staying awake. On the other hand, it was not my manager who wanted me to be awake all night, it was someone outside of the organisation, plus the job does not require me to be awake - NOTHING happens overnight! - and by sleeping overnight I can volunteer through the day and do good.
Am I doing wrong in deceiving the funder? Or am I morally justified because more good is done by me sleeping through the night as I can volunteer?
4 months ago I applied for a job at where I volunteered. The job was an overnight support worker, and it was a sleep-in role, i.e. I had a bed, I could sleep overnight, but I had to be available if a client needed assistance. I got the job, but a few days later I was told that the man in charge of the funding for the job role from the local housing office had decided that the role could not be sleep-in, but instead I (and the other guy doing my opposite shifts) would have to stay awake all night.
The reason I applied for this job in particular was because i'd be able to continue volunteering through the day, which is what I most love. Obviously, staying awake all night would mean that i'd have to sleep through the day. I emailed my manager when this change was announced and told him that I would sleep through the shift anyway since that was what the initial role was for and I saw no reason to obey one man who has nothing to do with our organisation.
So, over the 4 months i've done the job I have mostly slept, except for one 4 week period where I attempted to stay up all night and sleep through the (sunny) days, which was very, very difficult, and required a lot of coffee (not good for my health).
I'd just like to know what people here think. On the one hand I am being dishonest because the job is now meant to be a stay-awake role, and I expect that my manager believes that I am staying awake. On the other hand, it was not my manager who wanted me to be awake all night, it was someone outside of the organisation, plus the job does not require me to be awake - NOTHING happens overnight! - and by sleeping overnight I can volunteer through the day and do good.
Am I doing wrong in deceiving the funder? Or am I morally justified because more good is done by me sleeping through the night as I can volunteer?
0
Comments
How long is your probationary period?
Have you a written contract?
On conditions of the above, I'd discuss this with someone....
They can't change the conditions of the role without agreement and consultation.
if they want to impose fundamental changes, they'd need to agree to dismiss you then re-employ you under the new conditions...
The question that bothers me is the moral one. I am being deceitful by sleeping when the role requires that I stay awake, but since the original job was a sleep-in role, and since there is no actual need for me to be awake, and since by sleeping on the job I can go and do volunteer work through the day that benefits others, is my deceit justified, or is all deceit wrong?
So, if your intention is that if you get a sneaky sleep in, that this makes you more useful for the well being of others, then I would say that is moral. But if your intention is to sleep so you in effect get paid for sleeping and being dishonest at the same time, then it's immoral.
In A.A. we have a saying, 'To thine own self be true'. I guess only you can decide if it's moral or not.
I'd be interested in reading some other comments, especially if they're contrary to what I've posted. Thanks.
A company (at least here in the States) has the freedom to change job descriptions at any time...and they do. While one job description is in place, yes, they must evaluate you and handle you as an employee based on that job description. Of course, when a job description changes, you have the right to say no...and leave the job.
Keep in mind, that you're being paid to do what a "boss" wants you to do. I sometimes had teachers who acted as if they were independent contractors, and thought they could teach any way or any content they saw fit. But they weren't independent contractors. They had signed a contract to work the way the School Board wanted them to work. And it happened to me, as a principal, as well. I took orders from the Assistant Superintendent...and he took orders from the Superintendent...and he took order from the School Board. And yes, sometimes people who wanted to assert their independence learned what that independence cost -- they got "let go".
This is an inherent challenge in many, many jobs and occupations. It's why some people prefer to start their own business, so that they can be their own bosses.
Your intent may be good (and as I read more of what you write over-time, I think it is). But intent is no what someone is paying you for...as much as we may wish it is.
Your position - adherence to chain of command - is a tricky rule to determine my actions in this case. There are plenty of situations in life where disobedience to a chain of command is accepted as the right thing to do - i'm just wondering whether this is, or can be, one of them.
Work conditions and policies are constantly changing and as employees we are required to change with them regardless of the original job description or the length of time we've served. If you were informed, which you were, you are required to comply.
It sounds like you enjoy the daytime volunteer aspect of the job. Put your energy there when you can but find another means of employment where you are willing to do the job that they asked you to do.
Unless there are official channels to put forth your case for why sleeping would be a better way to serve the community (and I don't mean for you personally, I mean the role regardless of your personal situation with volunteering in the daytime) I think you need to do what you're told. You can't really quit because the Job Center will tell you to fuck off if you've only been there a few weeks, so it's a bit of a catch 22 in terms of staying or leaving, but they might fire you if they find out you're not doing the job as outlined and JC don't like that, either.
They can change your role any time they like, and you can take it or leave it, but they obviously feel a waking role would be the best way to serve their clients, and if you feel that isn't the best way for you to serve, well, you're replaceable. :shrugs: Sorry.
Moral dilemmas do my head in. My feeling has always been that the right thing to do is to stay awake as the role requires, but that the rational thing to do is to sleep.
Just to clarify, it wasn't management who wanted to change the role to stay-awake, it was a guy from the council's housing office who refused to pay someone to be asleep, and in fact, management fought long and hard on this point but had to accept the council's choice. This is the point that jars with me, because the only person being deceived is someone i've never met, never will meet, has nothing to do with the organisation, but for his own reasons decided that our management didn't know what was right for the role and determined it otherwise. And yet, it makes NO difference to that man whether I sleep or not.
I'm meeting management on monday about my contract. If it states that I am expected to stay awake all night then I think i'll be honest and let them decide how to move forwards, but if it is not in my contract that I am to stay up all night then I am not officially doing anything wrong. Also, management has said that should we fall asleep then so be it... thus it comes down to accidental sleeping and purposeful sleeping, or, slumping in the chair and laying out a sleeping bag and pillow...
I don't want to be a dishonest person, nor deceitful, but I also don't want to be an idiot. In 4 months of working night shifts not once have I been needed through the night in any way, and even if I was, I am easily contactable, so in a rational sense there is no good reason to stay awake, but morally I am being deceitful, all be it, deceiving someone completely removed from our organisation. Is this small deceit justified? Can deceit be 'small'? Can it be balanced in favour of being positive by how I utilise that deceit, i.e. by using my time to volunteer?
If it's say's stay awake, and you don't, discipline can be rendered, under the description, and the all everlasting "dire emergency" that could befall the place.
"I don't want any yes-men around me I want everybody to tell me the truth, even if it costs them their jobs."
"I don't want any yes-men around me I want everybody to tell me the truth, even if it costs them their jobs."
I'd never heard that. That's cool (and I generally enjoy his old films).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._minimum_wages