
Fighting for Honesty in Corporate America
I have a high expectation that people be honest in their interactions. I have recently had several negative interactions with my leadership due to their lack of honesty. As I complained to coworkers many of them laughed at me for expecting honesty in a corporation. Corporate America is so infected with deceit that it has become an accepted part of the culture. I have chosen not to accept dishonesty and instead fight against it. In this article, I will give qualitative examples of how dishonesty has contaminated my life in hopes I can inspire others fight to bring the expectation of honesty back to Corporate America.
1. Dishonesty is a factor in the pay gap for women.
I have been working for a top ten Fortune 100 company for 10 years. I have been in my current field for about 8 years. I have more formal education than any of my peers and supervisors. I have never missed a deadline and I always deliver a quality product. I still get paid in the bottom quartile of my pay range. Why? I have struggled with this question for years. I did not do a good job negotiating my pay when I accepted my job. For years, I have put this on myself. Since then, I have asked for a pay raise when I obtained my doctorate, when I was promised a promotion, when all women were encouraged to ask for a pay raise. Each time I was denied. The truth is women have to do a crazy dance when they negotiate for themselves because we are not supposed to self-advocate. Companies discourage employees to talk about their compensation with others. This lack of transparency allows companies to pay women less because it is all kept secret. I have blamed myself for years for my disparity in pay, but the truth is companies need to come with a better system that is transparent to fix the pay gap for women. It is not natural for women to negotiate and when we do self-advocate we are looked down upon because we are supposed to be caregivers and nurturers. Our ability to negotiate and corporations’ sexist beliefs should not hinder women from supporting their families.
2. Truth is only important when it helps the company.
My company specifically puts honesty and integrity at the top of the list in their Code of Business Conduct. My bosses asked me to work a Lead position with the understanding that the pay and official promotion were just a matter of paperwork. After being patient and kindly asking for months about where the promotion was I finally put in a complaint with Human Resources. Quickly, my new duties and any documentation that showed me in a Lead position disappeared. When we had a meeting my boss and his leadership simply denied I had worked the position or that I was ever promised a promotion. Four people were willing to lie in order to protect the company from liability.
3. Gaslighting is a technique used to quiet disgruntled employees.
Gaslighting is a newly recognized form of abuse where the victim is manipulated into questioning their own sanity by making them question their own memory and perception of events. I had plenty of documentation; screenshots, emails, expense reports, meeting requests. You cannot do anything in this time and age without documentation. When I showed HR my documentation, he simply stated that what I was saying could not be true because my leadership told a different story. My integrity was put into question despite all of my documentation. Clearly, this HR representative was not going to be helpful so I put in a complaint to the Integrity Hotline. The representative from the Integrity Hotline told me to seek counseling using their Employee Assistance Program.
4. Refusing to engage in the dishonest culture can put your job on the line.
I am a salaried employee who is asked to log what I do with every minute of my time. Leadership has asked us to make up time, put more time in a certain category to make our numbers look better, log more than 50 hours a week so they can justify a new headcount, and make sure our projected time is full so clients cannot add more projects to our list. The whole system is laced with dishonesty. As a protest, I decided not to log any more time in it. My boss threatened to fire me and not allow me to use any of my PTO unless I logged my time according to their standards. At the same time, I won an award for compliments from a client and another project was showcased to our team. The fact that I do my job well is inconsequential if I insist on standing up for my values. It is more important to do and go along with untruthful culture than to do my projects well.
These statements are a qualitative reflection of my unique experience. I am grateful I am not working in the salt mines and I am blessed with a comfortable job that allows me to provide for my beautiful family. At the same time, we can make things better. Women do deserve equal pay for equal work. Leadership and Human Resources should not gang up to gaslight an employee. An employee who values honesty and integrity should be praised, not fired. At this point, I feel like I have lost my battle within my company. I have tried to resolve my issues using the hotlines and resources provided to me. My next step in my battle is sharing my story with the public. In sharing my story, I hope others feel empowered to try and bring back honesty to corporations.
