Would you turn down a great job offer because a company had questionable ethics?

[NJmaverick]

Why or why not?

[rcrush]

1. No I need a job real bad.

[Chan790]

2. I have.

More than once. I am very very picky who I work for.

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

3. Yes.

Questionable ethics can extend to employees and business practices. They will probably insist on you doing something ethically-challenged. Some people can go along with that, but I can't without feeling very compromised myself. I am not perfect by any means, but I would not knowingly put myself in that situation.

[hippywife]

4. Yes.

Because when it all boils down, all you got are your morals and ethics. If they have no respect for the world, how can you expect them to respect you. Or how can you respect yourself if you aid in furthering their unethical agenda.

[Ptah]

5. I could nearly double my income if I went to work for

Raytheon here in Tucson.

I just don't want to make rockets or bombs.

[kentauros]

21. I'm the same way with KBR and Haliburton here in Houston.

None of the rest, not even Exxon, come as close to those two for a lack of ethics. I'll let the greedmongers I know apply for those positions.

[Nickster]

6. Absolutely. I already have. I agree with the sentiments that have already been shared here.

I can't bring myself down to that low of a level just for a paycheck. Corporate America sucks as it is, at least I can avoid working for the most scum-baggiest.

[HopeHoops]

7. I don't bother applying.

There's a company within three miles of my house that is one of the ONLY companies advertising for developers. The job description reads like my resume. The only service this company provides is assisting other companies with outsourcing American jobs overseas.

Fuck that.

[Ohio Joe]

8. Right now... No

I've been unemployed for over a year... I really need to get back to work. I would keep looking for another job though and bolt as soon as I could.

[Iggo]

9. Not in this economy.

[Wapsie B]

10. No, not even a place like Bush-O'Donnell.

Not in this economy.

[lightningandsnow]

11. Now: no. In the future, yes.

Seriously, I'm a student, and if Wal-Mart offers me a job, so be it.

Once I have a degree and can get real jobs, I'd turn down an offer like that.

[JonLP24]

12. Probably not (turn down) I guess

I was in the Army a little over a year ago.

[seabeyond]

13. i took the job, went home, thought about it and said nope, cant do it. so answer, yes

i would turn down a job even desperate and in need.

[applegrove]

14. Yup. I don't often work for corporations as a whole.

[rbnyc]

15. Yes...

...unless it were truly my only option for meeting the most basic needs of my family.

I won't even work for a company that benefits shareholders. Were I a senior executive for a for-profit instead of a not-for-profit, I would be making at least twice as much as I make now, and probably about 5 times as much. But it's just not worth it to me. We struggle, but we have everything we need. And in the grand scheme of things, we really don't even struggle. I need to know that the work I do has a community benefit, and that top to bottom, a community benefit is the priority of my organization.

Now, will I take money from a company that has questionable ethics and distribute that money to the people in the community who have the most need? Indeed, I will and I do. I haven't met a community relations person yet whom I won't allow to sign a big check that I can put toward vital programs.

[Pharlo]

16. I would not work for a company I thought was

questionably ethical. However, what I deem 'a company that practices questionable ethics' may differ from the opinion of some of the others posting in this thread.

I couldn't work for a collection agency because I know how hard people are struggling right now.
I couldn't work for an outsourcer for the same reason.
I would NEVER knowingly cross a picket line.
I would never be able to deal in the vulturelike environment of bankruptcy real estate.

However, a factory job at a Military Industrial Complex or a supplier or as a WalMart 'associate', those I would not have a problem with.

I think we all have a degree of latitude on what we personally deem 'ethical' behavior for a company.

Now, if the company were so 'ethically' challenged as to be borderline legal - no way in hell, not knowingly.

[momto3]

17. I turned one down earlier this summer.

I am a biologist - trained as a cancer biologist. I was offered a senior toxicologist position earier this year at a local tobacco company that would have almost tripled my yearly income (plus offered excellent health and dental benefits, plus a pension). With the new FDA restrictions on tobacco, my job would have been to convince the public that tobacco and tobacco companies are not so bad, by doing research on "safe cigarettes". As a cancer biologist, I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a safe cigarette. I am embarrassed to admit that I almost took the job. The money was almost too good to pass up.

I know I made the right decision for me by turning down the job. I hope I made the right decision for my family by turning down the job.

[Joe the Liberal]

18. No......

I need a job, I could care less about a company's ethics, my personal and financial well being comes first before ethics.

[PassingFair]

28. That is one of the most sickening sentences I've ever read.

Surely you don't really mean that.

:scared:

[Joe the Liberal]

29. ....

I guess I should have said that I'm willing to overlook a companies ethics right now in this economy. Just so long as those ethics aren't too over the top. If the economy weren't in such bad shape I would probably look elsewhere.

[PassingFair]

34. That's a little better, Joe...

"Just so long as those ethics aren't too over the top."

THAT is the qualifier!

:hi:

[PVnRT]

33. Ever been unemployed and desperately needing a job?

I'm guessing the answer is no.

[PassingFair]

35. Answer is YES.

There are still some things I would not do.

[Cant trust em]

19. Well, I work for a non-profit...

so I hope that says something about my opinion on corporate ethics.

When I was looking at this job I did some research and talked to people about their values before I accepted the position.

[datasuspect]

20. it would depend on how hungry the kids are

or if i was facing dispossession.

[Moondog]

22. Yes. I've done so twice.

In the current environment it needs to be said that I already had a job, and wasn't looking for one. I got unsolicited offers, a few years apart, which would have paid considerably more than I was making at the time. I declined both, for the reason in your question, and because after a certain point money isn't that important to me and I was already making quite a bit more than I was spending.

[laylah]

23. Not in this day and age...

however, there was a time when my ex refused a job with martin/marietta based on our convictions. now, i'll do what it takes to survive...and ain't it sad so many of us have to do that.

[NewJeffCT]

24. In this economy, I wouldn't

I worked for a major health insurer from 1988-2001, so I already have questionable ethics as it is.

[Paper Roses]

25. Suppose you did not know what was going on? Sometimes the

real picture does not show until you are familiar with the way a company works. It is history now, but years ago I was offered a great job with a company with not only a super salary but benefits galore.

I knew my capabilities and that I would take the job if it was offered. I would have been crushed if I lost out.

It took me a while to figure out how to do my job, it was complicated. Soon I began to notice things that did not make sense. More and more, as I learned and observed, I began to see a pattern. One day I decided I had had enough, went to my supervisor, told he I could not work for a company like this and left. No notice was given. I had a nice exit interview where I told the president, v.p,
and some other chap that I could not work for a company like theirs. I could never prove anything, and there was no point in my doing anything other than leaving. I found a new job quickly and about a year later, heard through the grapevine that they were being investigated. About 2 years after that, it was sold. The new owners took the brunt of the bad rep of the company and went belly up.

The bad guys won. I was told later by one of my former co-workers that I was one of the few people who ever gave up that job because of morals.

Never had a job that paid as well again but I guess there is some merit in a clear conscience. You never know.

[Brigid]

27. Took a job like that once.

It was with a health insurance company. That alone should have given me pause but it didn't. I didn't realize what I was getting into. I ended up leaving after a couple of years.

[Odin2005]

26. Absolutely.

I do what is right, money be damned.

[guitar man]

30. yes

I had a job like that once. I worked as a small engine equipment mechanic at a dealership and the owner was on me to "sell parts, sell parts, sell parts", so I wound up replacing perfectly good parts until I couldn't stand it anymore and walked out one day. I couldn't take a long or hot enough shower to get that stink off me after work. :(

[raccoon]

31. Depends how desperate I was. nt

[qb]

32. If there was a way I could undermine their questionable practices I'd give it a shot.

:evilgrin: