So let’s say you’re a phone company employee out on the job with your company bucket lift, when the locals tell you there is a cat who has been stuck atop a pole for hours and could you please help out. Chances are good you’d take a look at the situation and if seems reasonable, you’d pop up, grab the cat, save the day and get on with life.
And if you’re the phone company, you’d suspend the guy for operating the bucket lift outside of its designated geographic region. You’d recognize while doing it that this would be bad PR… but screw it, you can’t let an employee get away with breaking the rules, no matter how well intentioned.
Now, assume that you are a *wiser* corporation. Yes, the guy broke some rules, and that should not be ignored or glossed over. But he also did a good thing and not only provided aid, but gave the company some good PR. So… as a *wise* company, what to do? My suggestion:
1: Give him X demerits for breaking the rules.
2: Give him X merits for being decent human being.
End result: status quo with a warning for the employee and a positive press release for the company.
One might argue that it’s “just a cat” (if one is one of those morally dubious people who thinks of a cat as “just a cat”). But it’s entirely possible that that same sort of procedure could be used to rescue a *human.* A child hanging off the side of a building after climbing out a window, say. Sure, that’s more realistically a job for the fire department… but you’re there, they ain’t. If you stand back and refuse to pitch in, and by waiting the kid falls… *you* will feel guilty, while the locals will very likely be quite PO’ed at you for doing nothing, and at the company for telling you to do nothing. If you can recognize that there are cases where breaking company rules is the right thing to do… we’ve established what the situation is, now we’re just haggling over the price.
Ah, ta hell with you, you say. This is Current Year where shades of gray and nuance are not allowed; if someone is not on your extreme end of whatever spectrum you’re on, then they are on the far end. Answers are only “right” or “Nazi” these days, so no matter how careful the guy was, or how much practical good he did, or how much good will he created for the company… BURN THE HERETIC.
