Honesty Testing for Employees

A Look at the Psychology of Honesty

Some employers are very interested in hiring ‘honest’ employees. This can be easily understood when it involves hiring policemen or employees in whom much responsibility may reside. The late billionaire Howard Hughes liked to hire ‘incorruptible Mormons’ as bodyguards and attendants. In these examples the importance of honesty as a personality or character dimension can be easily understood.

Taking a positive viewpoint of human beings is always a good place to begin. Honest behavior is relative, relative to the times (zeitgeist) and the person. Honesty is also relative to the peers and groups to which one belongs. Let us assume that you are an honest employee. Are you still just as honest when your employer cancels your bonus this year (est $20,000)? If you inadvertently take a writing pen home from work, are you dishonest?

Consider the following scenario I faced as a consultant:
The client had a trophy wife, big businessman, spent time in prison for tax evasion. Wanted to swap $120K of coupons for my proposed $30K network – who will know, he said?

Another was a nationally known company. Fix our network. The server crashed. They wanted me to restore from their CDs. All bootleg software: more than 20 different vendors. Suppose they promised you they would become compliant? – would you install the bootleg software?
What would you do if you discovered child porn on a computer you were repairing? –a personal computer? –a business client’s computer? –a friend’s system? -a family member's computer? Do you look at all these the same way?

How to almost always do right:
Anticipate what might happen and know ahead of time how you should respond. Remember that a zero level of honesty is still a measure of honesty. Lies are unnecessary for the true professional. Although I have been tempted to lie to get away from a bad situation.

What should you do if you see your boss is being dishonest? Will you ‘loan’ a copy of your $1,000 software program to your brother if he asks?

If your children are really starving, would you steal food to keep them alive? Having no honesty in your heart and behaviors is still a level of honesty – zero percent!
Dr LGG