I was recently reminded of an incident from my early days in New York. Back then, I was surviving on a daily ration of ramen and $1 egg drop soup. I considered it my NYC diet, even though I never lost weight and my sodium levels shot through the roof. Nevertheless, I had the job of my dreams straight out of college as an editorial assistant at a national magazine; that was more than enough to quell my hunger pangs.<\/p>\n
The editor-in-chief of this magazine happened to have a pet charity. It was a worthy cause, most definitely, and all you had to do to donate was give up one day’s lunch allotment (in New York, I’d say anywhere from $6-15). When I first saw the signage the editor had up around the office, promoting the charity and directing your donations to her assistant, I simultaneously applauded her efforts and knew I wouldn’t donate. At a point in my life where every cent of an exceedingly tiny salary went towards rent, student loans, transportation and sometimes<\/i> food, I simply did not feel morally bound to donate my lunch money. $6 can go far when you’re living on egg drop soup!<\/p>\n
\nI assumed my decision not to donate would pass under the radar – why
\nwould the top of the totem pole care about a $6 donation from the
\nbottom of the totem pole? Then I received an email from the editor’s
\nassistant. The email was a reminder that we, the receivers of this
\nemail, had not yet donated and that Friday was the deadline. There were
\nonly five people on this email. Apparently the editor-in-chief of this
\nmagazine was not<\/i> too busy to keep track of donations from the lower rungs.<\/p>\n
Obviously, eager young employee that I was, I immediately ran over to
\nher assistant with my $6 and asked to immediately be taken off this
\nblacklist. Was I being charitable? Heck no. Was I resentful at being
\npushed into a corner by my boss? Heck yes. Did I think this was highly unethical? Oh boy, yes<\/b>. <\/p>\n
Then there’s the story from a good friend of mine which reminded me of my long-forgotten resentment. She had received a
\nwork-related email, on a work email account, with an email signature attached at the
\nbottom. The signature was a full-on tout for the sender’s personal cause of choice, with a link and a request to donate. My friend was
\nirritated and a little offended. I think rightly so. <\/p>\n
Personally, even though it might appear fairly innocuous, I find most
\nworkplace charity-pushing to be inappropriate and often unethical –
\nthough well-meant. <\/p>\n
Joining a team of co-workers to volunteer or participate in an event is one thing; asking for money, something else entirely.<\/p>\n
I truly don’t think I’m being uncharitable by saying this. How about you? Do you find
\ncharity-pushing in the workplace inappropriate, unethical, or simply an
\nefficient way to raise money for a good cause?
\n<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was recently reminded of an incident from my early days in New York. Back then, I was surviving on a daily ration of ramen and $1 egg drop soup. I considered it my NYC diet, even though I never lost weight and my sodium levels shot through the roof. Nevertheless, I had the job…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-padmini-mangunta","category-work-ethics"],"yoast_head":"\n