Is corporate ethics a screen for mediocrity?

Imagine you just handed over a project that pulled the department out of the hole. The client is thrilled, the colleagues are slapping on the shoulder, even the director in the smoking room threw something like, «Good job, Petya, burn!» You’re already looking forward to a bonus or at least a day off to get some sleep. But instead, you’re called in at HR. No, not to be praised. You’re given a lecture on how in the past call you «didn’t smile enough» and «your chat tone was too direct.» Seriously? You just saved the project, and you’re rubbed in «corporate» and «you’re right» and «corporate» right behavior. Welcome to a world where corporate ethics is not about work, but about the theater of the absurd.

Ethics or hypocrisy?

Let’s be honest: in Russian companies (and beyond), corporate ethics often become ritualistic, and instead of evaluating employees by results, companies focus on externalities: whether you say hello correctly, whether you joke “inclusively” enough in a chat room, whether your tie was the right shade of blue, and that’s not ethics — it’s hypocrisy, covered up with beautiful words about “team spirit” and “corporate culture.”

Here’s a story from life: Katya, the developer, stayed up three nights to get the release on time. The code works, the bugs are fixed, the client is happy. But on Monday, she gets called to the office and is scolded for «looking tired» and «not being involved.» Katya, who was dragging the project on herself, sits and listens to her being told that «you need to smile more» and «show positive.» And it turns out that her comment in the work chat — «boys, let’s go fast, the deadline is burning» — was «too harsh values» and «company.» Katya, of course, apologizes, but in her head she has only one thought: “For what?”

And this is not an isolated case, because corporate ethics in these companies is not about respecting people, but about following the meaningless rules that someone once wrote down in a beautiful code, and this code becomes a cudgel that beats those who dare to be honest or just do business.

Coffee machines and team building: decorations for mediocrity

Companies spend millions on training in «leadership,» «emotional intelligence,» and «inclusiveness.» They buy coffee machines that say «We’re for equality!» and they put up posters on walls that say «We’re strong together» or «Be yourself!» But behind that beautiful screen is emptiness. Employees who actually pull projects get neither praise nor freedom, but they get forced to participate in teambuildings where they have to jump with balloons or «build a tower of spaghetti» for «command spirit?» If companies were as concerned about giving people the chance to work without red tape as they were about coloring the balls at a corporate party, maybe the results would be better.

And then you get these trainings. Oh, these endless training sessions! You get gathered in a negotiator, where some coach with burning eyes for three hours tells you how important it is to be empathic and listen to colleagues. And then you go back to work, where your boss yells for being five minutes late, and a colleague in the next department doesn’t answer a letter for three weeks because he’s in the process. And where’s your empathy? Where’s your team spirit? All these are scenes that hide a banal inability to organize a normal job.

Values in the frame: why do they not work?

You’ve seen these corporate values beautifully printed and hung in the office? «Honesty,» «respect,» «innovation» — that sounds cool, right? But in fact, they’re just words. Honesty? Employees get fined for «wrong tone,» but they’re silent when their ideas are appropriated by their bosses. Respect? Only if you nod at every meeting and ask uncomfortable questions. Innovation? Forget it if you have to go through the three stages of approval and get a signature from Ivan Ivanovich, who doesn’t even know what your project is.

The real value in a company is not the words on the poster, it’s when the employee who closed a complex project gets a reward and a reward and a thank you, not a lecture on «corporate ethics,» and it’s when the initiative is rewarded, not punished for «disruption of processes,» and it’s when people are given the freedom to work, not made to fear every chat joke or «wrong» look on the phone.

Why do the best leave?

You know why companies lose their best employees? Because the best people are the ones who want to do the work. They don’t want to waste time looking right or showing engagement. They want to work, create, achieve. But instead, they’re stuck in a corporate ethics, where it’s not about results, it’s about rituals. And at some point they just say, «Enough.» They go to freelancing, to startups, or to a company that values their work, not how to smile on calls.

And who stays? Those who have mastered the art of nodding, filling out forms, and saying the right words, and they don’t do anything great, but they fit perfectly into the corporate culture, and the company becomes a swamp where mediocrity thrives and talent is suffocated under a pile of codes and training.

How do you make ethics real?

Companies, listen. If you want corporate ethics to be a real value, stop playing theater. Here are some simple steps:

• Appreciate the result, not the rituals. If an employee has done a cool project, don’t blame him for «wrong tone.» Give him a bonus and say thank you.
• Take away the rules. If your “ethics” requires you to agree on every little thing or be afraid of jokes in a chat, it’s not ethics, it’s bureaucracy.
• Trust people. If you hire a professional, let him work, not teach him how to smile.
• Praise the work. No training and balls on team building will not replace honest praise for real work.

True corporate ethics is not about ties, codes and slogans; it’s about freedom to work, honest respect and recognition of work, and it’s about people knowing they’re valued for what they do, not how they look in front of a «values» poster, and if companies start to understand that, maybe the best ones will stop leaving and offices will stop being the theater of the absurd.

In the meantime, don’t forget to smile on the next call, or you’ll have an HR conversation.