CASE STUDY #5: BRING HOME OFFICE GOODIES

One of the norms of conducts for government employees as stated in RA 6713, Sec. 4, Commitment to Public Interest is, “All government resources and powers of their respective offices must be employed and used efficiently, effectively, honestly, and economically, particularly to avoid wastage in public funds and revenues.”

However, it isn’t true in this case. Taking office supply is a kind of thing that goes unnoticed; it is like an express shopping of envelopes, highlighter, glue, post-its, pen, markers and even toilet papers! But is the stealing of office stationery really stealing? The other question is this: what precisely constitutes stealing? A pen is only worth a few cents, it’s no big deal – but stealing a box of it is a crime. Likewise, a thin pad of post-it notes might be ok, but a thick pad is probably wrong. Is stealing ‘stealing’ no matter the quantity?

In most cases, stealing at work begins small and magnifies into a large quantity of theft. Let’s take a pen as an example; after an employee takes a single pen and gets away with it, they may take a box of pens. Unless caught, the employee may begin larger forms of theft until someone realizes missing products. This is becoming an increasingly significant problem that organizations or government agencies are facing.

Mely has a point when she said that even second level employees and division chiefs who can afford to buy these stuffs also bring home office supplies, and to take note that they still have some “kickbacks” from the higher government officials. Well, if a great employee puts in a lot of hours and delivers excellent results, surely the occasional pilfered stationery item is a small sacrifice. But if we sum up the amounts of all the office supplies taken by the employees for personal usage, it can add up to significant costs; in which Cynthia was right.

At this point, I take Cynthia’s side because I know that it is wrong; and why would I resort to something wrong? If I can afford to buy my own pen, I would, it will not hurt my budget. I even bought my own stapler so that I can call it my own; it’s not a big deal.  At the office, I use scratch papers when printing if it is for office filing so that I can minimize the expenses. Yes, we do have an annual budget but that doesn’t mean that I have all the right to get what I want because it’s in the budget; that is not fair for the government.

Not only that, when an employee is caught stealing, it sends a troubling message to the general public and this can cause trust issues which is now in contrary to the conduct that a civil service employee should be; to think of the welfare of the people above personal gain.

Company assets are meant for business, and not for personal use. Office employees all have a responsibility to protect and safeguard company assets from loss, theft, misuse and waste. Even the smallest supplies such as the staple wire or pen are authorized for business purposes and should never be used personally.

But why do employees still steal? Counterproductive work behavior now takes place because of low satisfaction, a lack of organizational commitment, or conflicts with supervisor. Aside from that, it is also tied up to an employee’s salary.  Individuals have a fairly good assessment of their self-worth and if they feel that they are being under-rewarded or unrecognized, they will undertake activities within an organization that redresses their inequity.

If I see a co-worker taking company property from our facilities without permission I will not keep it to myself because it would reflect poorly on my loyalty to the office or the organization. It seems like I do not care about the money wasted by the public because some employees are getting what they think they deserve to have.

Also, those who are in the top management, such as the second level employees, the head or the division chief should lead by example and set the tone for ethics and trust in the company by showing good values in all areas of the business and see to it that everyone is treated fairly.  In that way, subordinates would hesitate to do wrong because they can see that their head acts as good role model for them.

Also, it is really important that paid workers should not be underpaid so that they will not get their share of profit somewhere else; either by taking something from the company, or cutting their time. Showing appreciation and trust for the employees at the office can positively affect the company in both morale and productivity.