Ernst & Young (EY) recently fired dozens of employees in the US for attending multiple online training courses simultaneously during the firm’s learning week held earlier this year. according to financial TimesThe company said that this act amounts to an ethical violation. “Our core values of integrity and ethics are at the forefront of everything we do. Appropriate disciplinary action was recently taken in a few cases where individuals were found to have violated our Global Code of Conduct and the US Learning Policy ,” EY said. However, last week’s firing has sparked an internal debate about business ethics and the limits of multitasking.
After the dismissal, several employees who were dismissed for this reason spoke to him financial TimesAdding that there was no prior warning from the company against attending multiple courses at the same time.
“Their emails marketing EY Ignite really encouraged us to attend as many sessions as we could on our schedule,” one person said. footAdding, “We all work with three monitors. I was hoping to hear new ideas I could bring forward to differentiate myself from others.”
Another person who lost his job said the company “promotes a culture of multitasking”. “If you are forced to bill 45 hours a week and do many more hours of internal work, how can it not be?” The former employee said.
A third person said, “I know a fellow who will call two (clients) and turn his camera on and off depending on who he’s talking to. If that’s unethical, that’s unethical too.”
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EY termed the dismissal as “appropriate disciplinary action” and said attending more than one course at the same time was a breach of company ethics. But some employees reacted to the latest dismissals, calling it a disproportionately harsh response.
EY’s response was “absolutely bizarre,” one employee said, adding, “Maybe downgrading them, cutting bonuses, or even delaying promos, but terminating them with immediate effect.” That’s cruel…if it was so important, implement a better system.”
The firm has since updated its guidance for training programs, which explicitly requires employees to “be present for all materials and class interactions.” The terminated employees were reportedly not given severance packages.
