Unethical Behaviour

Sample Answer

Witnessing Unethical Behavior: Reporting Misuse of Company Resources

A situation where I witnessed unethical behavior from a coworker involved the misuse of company resources and time for personal gain.

The Situation

I worked on a small team with a colleague, "Alex," who was responsible for managing our team's specialized software licenses and subscription accounts. I noticed that Alex was consistently spending a significant amount of work time on a side freelancing project.

Misuse of Time: Alex would dedicate several hours each workday to the personal project, often ignoring urgent team communications or delaying critical tasks.

Misuse of Resources: More critically, Alex was using one of the company's premium, specialized software licenses—which were limited and costly—exclusively for the personal freelancing work, effectively depriving the rest of the team of access when the license was needed for official projects. This was a clear violation of the company's IT and Ethics Policy.

My Response and Action

My response was guided by the company's Code of Conduct, which explicitly required employees to report violations, especially those involving the theft of resources or intellectual property (which the company-paid license, when misused, represented).

1. Initial Documentation

Before taking any formal action, I discreetly documented the instances of misuse:

I kept a log of the times when the specific software license was unavailable and noted that Alex was simultaneously absent from team communication or meetings.

I documented internal chat messages where Alex indirectly referenced their side project during work hours.

2. Consulting the Code of Conduct

I reviewed the official company Ethics and Compliance Policy to confirm the behavior was explicitly unethical and to identify the correct reporting channel. The policy indicated that issues like resource theft and significant time card padding should be reported to the direct manager or Human Resources (HR).

3. Reporting the Incident

I determined the most appropriate and private path was to report the issue directly to my manager in a one-on-one meeting, framing it as a resource and productivity problem first, and a compliance issue second.

I presented the facts and my documentation objectively, focusing only on the misuse of the company's paid license and the resulting impact on the team's ability to complete its work, rather than making it a personal attack on Alex.