Quick answer: Not if it’s something that you’d be ashamed to admit doing to others not doing it. In this article, I discuss the tendency people in paid employment have of adopting a “herd mentality”, even where issues conflicting with their ethical and moral values are concerned. A good example which has bothered me since I was in paid employment myself is the matter of seeking some form of gratification from contractors or service providers engaged by one’s employers.
I spent only 7 years in paid employment. But during that short period, my exceptional workplace performances led top management to rapidly assign me multiple career advancement opportunities.
In 1998, about 4 years after I joined the company as one of 12 graduate trainees, I got assigned to a fairly sensitive position in an acting capacity.
It was the office of Training and Technical Development Manager (TTDM).
That job involved dealing directly with a lot of external training consultants, including planning training programmes they would conduct for the staff, and also agreeing payment they would get.
I’m proud to say that right up till the time I voluntarily quit that company to start my business, I NEVER once asked for or took gratification of ANY kind to do my job, from ANYONE.
My Naivety and Love of Work Saved Me…
In many ways, I’m glad I tended to be more of a workaholic than most. As a result, the idea of asking any of the consultants to build in a percentage for me, in the fees they charged, never crossed my mind.
I had more important things to do…like developing new solutions to problems they company faced in the departments I worked!
I’ve learnt a lot since becoming self employed and (initially) trying to offer training services to companies as an entrepreneur. For instance, some Training Managers often insist the trainer agree to give them a cut, BEFORE they include him/her on their training schedule.
If you say NO, your offers, no matter how great or potentially beneficial to the company’s personnel, would not be passed on to decision managers by the Training Manager. Most times it would be done in a way that you would not be able to prove anything.
It always surprised me whenever I came up against this problem as an entrepreneur offering consulting services to organisations with such issues. I often wondered why people in positions they were being well paid to man, would feel a need to take from what a consultant was getting.
“What did they need the extra money for?” I asked anyone who cared to listen.
Silly me…:-)
One day I met with a gentleman who also ran a training consultancy. By the time we got around to the subject of getting access to medium to large companies, I brought up the matter.
He gave me a look that said he pitied me for trying to fight a losing battle, and then said:
“You see, they won’t tell you anything when you submit your company profile to them. They’ll wait till you come asking why they’ve not called you for a discussion. A few may venture to ask if you’re new in Nigeria, for instance. But most will just say you’re trying to prove you’re holier than others. MY friend, it’s a battle you cannot win. Most of them do it.”
Then he showed me a number of invoices he’d prepared for corporate clients whose staff he’d trained. Pointing to the N15, 000 per person fee on one of them, he announced that the training manager was getting N3, 000 per trainee. In other words, he as the consultant would only get N12, 000.
I asked: “But why? What works does he do to justify getting part of your money?”
He replied: “There are companies where it does not happen. But they are not many. Most companies have people in them who believe in doing things like this. Even the guys in the accounts office who have to give the consultants, contractors and other suppliers/providers their cheques have a system for getting some gratification, in place.
Those who fail to play ball simply find their cheques never seem to get signed on time, or even get lost. By the time they “get the message” and “do the right thing”, they suddenly discover it’s the company staff in charge who calls them on phone to say “Oga, your cheque is ready O!”
This article is not a self-righteous rant.
I’m not trying to make myself look like a saint here. But the truth is that in ALL my time in paid employment, I never once did such a thing. Not only is it bad and wrong, it is also not worth the hassle…and the anxiety they must periodically feel about getting found out.
But most people tend to follow the crowd. Some do so out of fear of criticism. Others do so out of greed.
As a result today, many in paid employment dip their hands in all sorts of naughty stuff. And they develop large appetites from taking home more money than they earn.
Sadly, their spouses rarely ask how come they have so much extra money to spare when they do not run a side business.
Instead everyone simply falls in line and adopts the high consumption lifestyle.
If/when the person gets found out and kicked out of the company; they are often unable to readjust to the normal lifestyle they should have been living. This eventually may lead to a crisis in the home.
My question to YOU is this:
Does the fact that you discover all your friends, colleagues and co-workers are doing something that’s lucrative, but dishonest or even illegal mean you MUST do it too?
Should you let your friendship with others be such that they can lead you to do things that can damage your name and reputation – possibly permanently? If others travel and return with “manufactured” receipts to claim money for expense they made, should you join them in doing it when you also travel?
I have a confession to make here:
You see, I once made this mistake(of letting others force me to join them), and I lived in terror of being found out till I quit the company I worked with.
Believe me, it’s not worth the hassle doing something you don’t want to, just to avoid being called a wet blanket!
That’s why today, I FIRMLY refuse to do any such thing – including giving anyone any money or gift to award me a project – regardless of whose Ox is gored.
Many people told me I would suffer for taking such a stand while trying to succeed in business in Nigeria.
One person even said “Tayo, people who think like you and have such an attitude often get frustrated out of business in Nigeria.”
That same person recently added me as a friend on Facebook…10 years after he made that statement to me.
We’d not been in touch all that time. One day, last month, he sent me an SMS asking to know how I was doing. I called him and told him a few of the advancements I’d been able to recently make.
Then I invited him to read up more on this blog.
Next thing I saw was an SMS to me exclaiming “Wow…Tayo the Multiplexer! Well done, I’m going to read the entire thing!!”
I will not pretend I know what “Multiplexer” means. I call myself a Multipreneur. Whatever the case, I believe that was meant to be a complement of sorts 
I’m sure he’s seen enough, now, to realize that the creator ALWAYS makes a way for people who refuse to play the “dirty” games others play.
So Here’s My Challenge to YOU: Don’t Let Peer Pressures Push You into a High Consumption Lifestyle
You do NOT need to do what others are doing, if it’s wrong, bad or illegal.
Anything you know you will not be proud to admit you’ve done should never interest you.
Not even if means you’ll be called names!
Take that stand and stick with it, then watch as your creator elevates you above all those short-sighted persons who chose to take an unhealthy shortcut to success!