What would you do if you found out that an existing high-performing employee had been dishonest about their professional credentials when they applied for the job?
In part five of HRM’s ethical dilemma series, where we ask AHRI members to respond to made-up ethical dilemmas, we explore what HR professionals should do after discovering that an employee has misrepresented their qualifications.
The ethical dilemma
Rachel is a high-performing software engineer at your organisation. She has been with the company for over two years and has had a consistently strong track record.
However, you receive a tip from another employee that Rachel was dishonest about her educational credentials when she joined the organisation. Upon investigating, you discover that she did not complete her bachelor’s degree, but still included the qualification on her CV. A tertiary level education was specified as a minimum requirement when she applied for the job.
What should you do next?
Bojana’s response:
Employee misrepresentation is usually a deliberate act that can significantly erode trust, making it essential to conduct a thorough investigation and engage in open conversation. From a legal standpoint, I don’t think it constitutes a termination.
Following the initial investigation, it is critical to approach Rachel to validate the information to determine the best course of action for all parties. Rachel has to confirm whether the statement is accurate or not.
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comment section or catch up on the other articles in this series.
We are looking at two very different scenarios and outcomes depending on Rachel’s answer being ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Let us assume that Rachel answers ‘yes.’ Now, it becomes paramount to delve into why Rachel has not disclosed the correct information. ‘Why?’ is a powerful question. We should also discuss the potential impact of her misrepresentation. For example, misrepresentation can have significant repercussions on clients and the quality of the product involved. The impact potentially expands to the erosion of trust within Rachel’s team. We may jointly consider actions to rebuild the trust.
This is also an opportunity to emphasise that our organisation regards performance excellence and values such as trust and honesty equally.
The hiring team should clearly establish why a bachelor’s degree is necessary for the job and update future job advertisements accordingly. If this requirement is essential, background checks can be considered, and candidates should disclose their degrees before signing the employment contract.
Finally, HR should revise the employment agreements and include the clause that indicates that if the individual engages in misrepresentation, it will constitute serious misconduct.
Joseph’s response:
Like many things relating to people, there are several ways to look at the situation and there is more than one way to deal with it. First you must consider what you can do from a legal perspective. Secondly, you must consider how the business wants to treat other human beings.
There should be an investigation to find out if Rachel does have a degree and lied in her application or it was a genuine mistake. It would also be worth evaluating whether a degree is necessary for the position.
If a degree is necessary for the position and Rachel lied in her application, my decision would most likely be to terminate her role. Arguably, there would be a breakdown of trust in the employment relationship. If it was a mistake and no degree is necessary, you could keep Rachel on.
If it was a mistake but a degree is necessary, you might consider how to support Rachel to get the right qualifications. There are a multitude of other potential scenarios as well. Ultimately, consider the facts and make a human decision – one that you would not mind putting your name to if it made its way into the news headlines.
Gwynneth’s response:
Firstly, I would put the behaviour in context by analysing the legal and cultural framework of the business in relation to trust and honesty. Did the business expressly include a duty of trust in the employment contract? Did the business highlight the importance of trust, honesty and integrity in policy documentation or a code of conduct?
Secondly, I would meet with Rachel to determine the extent of her dishonesty. Was her intention simply to put a positive spin on her tertiary progress during the recruitment process? Or was she intentionally misrepresenting her qualifications in a fraudulent manner?
The employment consequences for Rachel would depend on weighing the evidence about her intention against the legal framework and cultural values of the business. If her dishonesty was on the lower end of the scale, and of low importance to the business, I would require a guarantee from her that no other material on her resume was false, and that moving forward she understood that lying was an unacceptable workplace behaviour.
If her dishonesty was so serious as to amount to fraud, and the business highly valued honesty, then I would consider this a valid reason for dismissal despite her high performance.
Regardless of the consequence for Rachel, I would take this opportunity to re-establish the importance of trust, honesty and integrity to all employees and improve the recruitment procedure by including a qualification check.
How can HR contribute to an ethical workplace culture? AHRI’s short course will help you define the professional and ethical principles which guide your organisation, and understand HR’s role in shaping company culture around them.
The deeper problem here is the employee tipping off HR. I know this is a hypothetical question with real-life legal considerations, but that’s the first red flag your organization would need to address. Jealous employees need assistance and support and the business need to understand they hired a software engineer, not a doctor or lawyer who need to pass state and bar exams in order to work. The SWE passes peer reviews consistently and produces a high quality product by my understanding. The hiring team in the future could make the role desire but not require a software development or… Read more »
Degrees are used to filter the number of candidates, a degree is clearly not necessary as she is highly regarded and has performed well. The universities pump out graduates, I don’t regard a degree as an essential in a workplace unless we are talking, law, health professions, education and sciences. If a degree is a mandatory requirement, there must be a process to verify the degree conferred. There have been quite a few high-profile fraudulent claims of qualifications over the years. I would argue her lack of a degree is why she performs so well as a software engineer. In… Read more »
Would be interesting to see what happened in the recruitment process… if a degree is truly required for the role, why did the employer not request a copy, or request to sight the certificate during the recruitment process?
I think another important factor is that presumably the salary for this role would have been developed around the skills and qualifications needed for the role, and to attract the most competitive and skilled candidates. So in misrepresenting her skills to the employer this would be a break in the trust relationship for me. Highlights the importance of pre-employment checks!
Business is at fault; you didn’t check her credentials. Jumping to looking for a legal outcome/penalty shows a lack of empathy, and you could end up losing a good employee who may have made a mistake because she wanted to work for your company. The disciplinary route only serves to harm all those involved, especially the employee and her mental health & wellbeing. Should the HR manager who did the recruitment be disciplined? None of you touched on that, just get the employee.