Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace

Conflicts of interest in the workplace can take on many different forms. There are business-related situations, such as an employee having a side business that competes with the employer, and there are personal matters, such as a manager in a romantic relationship with an employee. The latter presents a conflict because the manager has the power to give raises or promotions to the employee, and discussions about the company between the two people may also breach confidentiality restrictions.

Let’s look at some specific Workplace examples:

– A manager forms a romantic relationship with an employee who reports to them.

– An employee works part time in the evening for a company that makes a product that competes with the products of his full-time employer.

– An employee accepts free gifts and free products from a training and development company and then recommends the purchase of these products without comparing them to comparable products from other vendor

– Working part-time at a company that sells a competing product or service as your full-time employer

– Posting to social media about your company’s weaknesses

There are many more examples that could be explored, but of these examples describes a scenario in which an employee is torn between serving more than one person’s or organization’s best interests.

Conflict of Interest with a previous Employer

Even after someone leaves an employment position, a conflict of interest can occur. For this reason many institutions have specific restrictions against this kind of conflict. Non-compete agreements are often required of executives and business owners to avoid situations such as someone taking their former employers information and directly competing.