The ethics of friends

Wednesday 30 August, 2023

hands reaching out

You work for a large financial services organisation who occupy a new and modern building next door to a much older building in need of an upgrade.

Your end-of-trip facilities are particularly impressive so you have been sharing your pass with a good friend who works for a not-for-profit in the older building, but your organisation has recently sent a reminder of the building rules, including that end-of-trip facilities are not to be shared.

Even with staff attending the office more regularly, the building is still not at capacity and the facilities are not overcrowded. Your friend lives in a crowded share house and has come to rely on the facilities, plus they have complete flexibility to use the facilities outside of busy times and have been using them for quite some time now without ever running into any problems.

What do you do?

Please share your ethical dilemmas with us - we can post them anonymously. You can email your dilemmas to dilemma@ethics.org.au

Photo by Austin Kehmeir on Unsplash

Comments

There are 6 comments for The ethics of friends.

Re: The ethics of friends

Thursday 31 August, 2023

by Chris

By continuing to allow your friend to access the facilities, it actually puts them in a difficult position if something adverse were to happen if they were onsite. From a legal perspective they're likely to be trespassing, too.
I would not want to put my friend in that position.

Re: The ethics of friends

Thursday 31 August, 2023

by Violet

I'm going to be honest here - I'd let my friend continue to use the facilities. I think those one size fits all rules need to be bent at times to accommodate some vulnerable people. I would say to my friend that the rules are being clamped down and she should probably start to find alternative options but that she's fine until she can. I would hope someone would do the same for me.

Re: The ethics of friends

Thursday 31 August, 2023

by David

If everyone were to bend the rules, where would we be. I agree if your friend is vulnerable you need to support her. What are the options? Could you speak to management, explain the situation and then see if they are willing to give a 2 week grace period? Perhaps there are other facilities near by where there are no restrictions or maybe your friend needs to deal with her over crowded home and get a schedule going so people don't have to outsource their showers?
I don't mean to sound brutal but why is this now becoming your problem?

Re: The ethics of friends

Thursday 31 August, 2023

by Maria

It’s not mine to share, it’s my company’s. So no, I would not continue to share. I would however reach out to both property and community outreach teams within the company to come up with an appropriate sharing solution if at all possible.

Re: The ethics of friends

Friday 1 September, 2023

by IanS

Both you and your friend are taking risks which may not end well. Tell your friend that access is no longer available and disclose to your boss in writing that from time to time your friend made use of the facilities. Make sure he/she knows that you will not allow this to happen again.

Re: The ethics of friends

Tuesday 24 October, 2023

by GS

I don't feel I have the right to make this decision. The company I work for has been given the rights to use the facility as part of their lease - my company has just extended the privilege to their employees. I don't personally own the building - so I'd advise my friend that I'm unable to share the facilities.

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