Another piece of the puzzle is: where is the line drawn? Clearly, some things are an instant no-brainer decision.

But what about other things that are not so clear? What about surfing the web here and there throughout the day? What about having a 20 minute conversation with a coworker about golf and not making up the time later in the day? What about using a company printer to print out directions to some place you’re going after work to hang out?

Those things are all violations of my company’s policies.

I’m definitely a “right is right and wrong is wrong” person, but is it realistic to be the person that reports all the instances of that kind of thing? We’re really talking about things that management will tell you are against the rules, but might also be considered informal perks for employees, so long as they accomplish what they need to with their work tasks.

In those cases, we’re talking about a culture of management acceptance of those things. Who does the unethical behavior belong to there?

And when the line is drawn, there has to be enforcement after that.

My feeling is that a company should not just lay out policies about what is accepted and what is not. It should also enforce those policies so employees understand that the behavior will not be tolerated. Many times, these things are trivial for employers to track – web surfing, login times (or time card/gate entry times), extended conversations, etc. They need to be enforced so that people like me aren’t put in the position of having to figure out if something is bad enough that it needs to be reported.

Why put me in the position of having to report something that management can easily find out on its own and where I have to worry about damaging relationships or my own reputation by blowing the whistle? The big stuff is easy – harassment, embezzlement, fraud, etc. It’s the little things that aren’t so clear.