BAE Systems, Inc. Annual Ethics Training

UndEr PrESSUrE

Scenario 5

Under PreSSUre

CharaCters Mo Andre MArie

coworker coworker manager

Mo and Andre are walking out of the production environment at the end of the day.

Mo: Hey, Andre. I haven’t seen you in a couple of days—how are ya?

Andre: Eh… I guess I’m doin’ okay. You?

Mo: Yeah, good. Happy the weekend’s almost here. How about you and me go get a drink tomorrow to celebrate the end of another week?

Andre: That’d be great, but now it looks like I have to take a vacation day tomorrow. I need to go to the doctor and get this stupid finger taken care of.

Mo: What happened to your finger?

Andre: Well, it’s actually a little embarrassing. A couple of hours ago, I was racing to get the shipment down to the dock in time. I jumped off the forklift and caught my finger on one of those iron support beams comin’ down. I’m pretty sure I broke it.

Mo: That’s awful, man.

Andre: You know how it is—they keep letting people go, but the workload never changes. I’m just moving as fast as the next guy. It’s really not that big a deal. I never take vacation anyway, so it’s all gonna work out fine.

Mo: Wait…. Why are you taking vacation time? That qualifies as a work injury, doesn’t it?

PART 1

BAE Systems, Inc. Annual Ethics Training

UndEr PrESSUrE

Scenario 5

Under PreSSUre

Andre: Are you kidding me? We’ve had a perfect safety record around here for almost five years. That streak is something a lot of people are pretty proud of, and they should be. Carl told me his bonus probably hinges on that record, and besides, my stupid mistake is nobody’s business anyway. I’m the only one who got hurt.

Mo: Carl isn’t the greatest supervisor in the world, but it blows me away that he told you that.

Andre: Anyway, I didn’t tell Carl about my finger. I wanted to tell him, but then I realized that if we can just make it another three weeks, we’ll be at five years. And that will mean something to a lot of folks.

Mo: Well…that’s true. When we made it to four years, that was when the sector president came to congratulate us, and we had that big celebration at the plant. But, seriously, you should probably tell our safety rep at some point. All we hear about these days is how important it is to report this stuff.

Andre: Why? I know what happened. Bottom line: don’t jump off a forklift and bang your finger. Got it. I’ve learned my lesson. Losing a vacation day is punishment enough.

Mo: You don’t think Carl wants to know what happened?

Andre: I know Carl doesn’t want to know. In fact, in a worst-case scenario, Carl gets dinged for letting a clumsy employee get hurt. How does that help anybody, including me? Besides, I don’t want to be the guy who ruined a perfect record. Everybody would look down on me, and I definitely don’t want that.

PART 1

BAE Systems, Inc. Annual Ethics Training

UndEr PrESSUrE

Scenario 5

Under PreSSUre

PART 2

Andre is meeting with Marie in her office.

MArie: How can I help you, Andre?

Andre: Let’s say it’s more of a hypothetical scenario. You know the big celebration for the five-year safety record is coming up, right?

MArie: Of course.

Andre: Well, what if an employee gets a little injury right before the big celebration? That would be pretty bad, right?

MArie: Are you kidding me? That would be terrible. The sector president is coming to our facility. I just got approval for the catering order for the celebration. We’re going to get BBQ from Carl’s wife’s restaurant. Wait, don’t tell anybody that. It’s supposed to be a surprise. Just be careful, and make sure everyone else is, too!

Andre: Right. So if someone did get injured, and if that person reported it, that could be even worse. Five whole years of a spotless record, and just one slip-up ruins it for everyone.

MArie: It would be a real problem. The whole event would be called off. We’d be the laughing stock of the company. My PDR would be shot, and these days, who knows what that might mean for my job!

Andre: Well, what if it was solely this person’s mistake? Wouldn’t it be best for everyone if he kept quiet about it? Maybe he could take PTO to go to the doctor.

MArie: (calming down) This doesn’t seem so hypothetical anymore.

Andre: Well, what do you think?

MArie: (taking a deep breath) It wouldn’t be honest not to report it, now would it? It’s not going to be easy for any of us, but usually the right thing to do isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

Andre: Yeah, I guess you’re right. Then I guess I have something I need to tell you....