Honesty…Integrity…Where did they go?

When I was around 13, I remember being presented with situations that really caused me to think about things for the first time.  For instance, I remember one time that I happened to see a lady in my home town drop a 5 dollar bill and she did not notice it.  I remember the hard decision (at that time):  “Should I tell her……..or pick it up and keep it myself?”  Man that was a hard decision at that time in my life.  I had not yet developed a foundation of guidelines that defined what I thought was right or wrong.  My ethical DNA. Coming from the perspective of a Staffing company, I have been asking myself “What has happened to the ethical decisions of many employees in the past decade.  I have stories that I just cannot believe almost on a daily basis.  Just yesterday, I had an LPN who was hired and accepted the position and she was scheduled to start her job the next day and we got a call from her MOTHER saying that she just was not interested in the position anymore TWO HOURS BEFORE SHE WAS TO START.  Now obviously, we wanted to hear that from her lips, however, she never returned any of our calls.  Let me remind you, this is from someone who is 40 years old. I have to stop and ask myself: Where is she coming from that she thought that was the best option?  This is not from someone who has a bad work history or anything like that.  She is an accomplished nurse with approximately 10 years of experience and 4 years longevity at her last position.  How could she conclude after attempting to figure out how to handle this specific situation that the best choice is to call and ask her mother to handle it for her?  Furthermore, that it would be best to wait until 2 hours until she is to show up to work to let us know. Employees, pay attention!  This is why human resource departments within your organization have such strict policies for their employees.  It is because for many Americans, they make horrible ethical choices.  I don’t know why, but they do. So, whether you are at home, at work, as a consultant, as a business owner.  I think I have a bit of advice that I strongly believe will take you far in your career. TREAT PEOPLE HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED Isn’t that what we are all really looking for?  To find other people to treat us as we would like to be treated.  While in a career, this is an often overlooked, but all too important aspect of all aspiring professionals.  I’ll bet you the nurse I spoke about earlier would not have appreciated it if she were an office manager and someone else did the same thing to her.  The reality is:  This person most likely will not be considered for many promotion opportunities due to her unwelcomed and very unpopular way of handling situations. Have Integrity The way that you respond to events in your life reflects a lot of about you and your ethical DNA.  How you handle situations ultimately reflects your success rate, popularity, how much you make, and most importantly, your credibility.  Just do the right thing.  Trust me, people in America are starving for people to just do the right thing.  If there was a small mistake that you know that you made, but you could easily not own up to it and blame may be placed somewhere else; own up to the mistake.  People will admire you for it and increase how much they trust you.  It shows great character.  At the end of the day, all you have is your character. Good luck this week.  Let’s all show some honesty and integrity. * Article written by Cory Minter, President of Trinity Employment Specialists, a Tulsa staffing company