In every industry or organisation, conflicts of interest can appear once in a while. These conflicts, if left unaddressed, cannot only erode an employee’s trust in the organisation but also tarnish the organisation’s reputation.
It’s crucial to understand and address these issues promptly to prevent such negative impacts.
As an HR professional, manager, or employee, your role in identifying and addressing conflicts of interest at work is crucial. In this article, we’ll provide you with a short discussion on how you can effectively address these issues, empowering you to contribute to a healthier work environment.
Definition of Conflict of Interest
Conflict of interest occurs when an employee’s beliefs or interests affect their work. This could be due to financial interests, personal relationships, or loyalty to their previous organization. Social media also shifts how employees think about their brand and how they should fight for it in their organization.
Some notable examples of conflict of interest in the workplace include: an employee getting involved with a supplier or client outside of work, buying or selling stock in companies due to insider trading, taking a second job from a competitor, and using company resources for personal use without approval.
Addressing Conflict of Interest at Work
Letting conflicts of interest breed in the organization can create tension and lead to serious consequences for all parties. Down below are some examples of actions you can take to address these conflicts at work:
A clear policy and procedure in place
Having a clear policy and procedure in place is essential to guide you in addressing conflicts of interest at work. These guidelines provide a sense of security and direction, ensuring that you’re equipped to handle these issues effectively.
Since every organization can face conflicts of interest at work, it is important that your organization has policies and procedures in place to counter them. Speak with your team to outline what conflicts of interest can arise in your company, how employees report potential conflicts, and how to resolve them.
Be open to disclosures
Employees may be reluctant to speak about potential conflicts of influence because of their impacts on their work. However, if you have an employee support team these employees can trust, it will be easier to disclose this critical information. Your employee support team should actively encourage employees to speak out about these issues, provide guidance on how to resolve them, and ensure that the process is fair and transparent.
Should someone fail or refuse to speak out, actions must be taken immediately against this individual.
Have a system for evaluating conflicts of interest
When someone raises a potential conflict of interest, your company should have a transparent system to evaluate it. Take the time to assess these conflicts and see how they can affect the organization. Each conflict must be reviewed with the same scrutiny so that employees will trust your judgment.
Check compliance and enforce consequences.
If someone is found guilty of violating the company’s conflict of interest clause, they must be punished for their actions immediately. When you act quickly, this will reinforce the message that such acts will not be tolerated in the organization.
Revise the employee handbook regularly.
You should regularly review your employee handbook and ensure that conflict of interest is properly explained in key chapters. Once the revisions are made, make sure all employees read them and sign a document proving that they have taken the revisions to heart. This will ensure that employees cannot feign ignorance regarding these revisions.
Conflicts of interest can pop up anytime as your company or business grows. Employees must know which issues or behaviors will be considered conflicts of interest at work. Policies should also be in place to prevent these conflicts from occurring. Use the tips above to create your organiSation’s stance against conflicts of interest and enforce it proactively.
