Through Industry Immersion students are given the opportunity to 

elevate themselves
personally and professionally. A more comprehensive understanding of career
opportunities, first-hand knowledge of company cultures and experience turning new
contacts into mutually beneficial long-term relationships all contribute to better internship
and post-graduate opportunities.

WHAT IS WORK IMMERSION

“Work immersion” is a key feature in the DHA curriculum which
involves hands-on experience or work simulation in which
students can apply their competencies and acquired knowledge
relevant to their track. Through work immersion, the students
are exposed to and become familiarized with work environment
related to their field of specialization.
The work immersion is part of the DHA Curriculum that consists
of 80 hours of hands-on experience which the students will
have to undergo to expose them to the actual workplace setting
and enrich the competencies provided by the school.

Benefits of Work Experience

Work Experience placements assist students in their transition from school to work and aim to: 
 Provide students with an opportunity to relate school studies with a workplace

 Give students an insight into the diversity of employees in the workplace  

 Prepare students for the demands and expectations of the working world 

 Help students make informed career decisions by assessing their aptitudes and
interests, and exploring potential careers

 Improve students’ maturity, confidence and self reliance

 Provide a link between school and local community  

 Provide students with appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes concerning both paid
and unpaid work
WORK ETHICS
By definition, Work ethic is a belief that work, hard work
and diligence has a moral benefit and an inherent ability,
virtue or value to strengthen character. It is about prioritizing
work and putting it in the center of life. Social ingrainment of
this value is considered to enhance character through hard
work that is respective to an individual’s field of work. A
strong work ethic is vital for achieving goals. A work ethic is a
set of moral principles a person uses in their job. People who
possess a strong work ethic embody certain principles that
guide their work behavior, leading them to produce high
quality work consistently and the output feeds the individual
to stay on track. A good work ethic fuels and individual’s
needs and goals, it is related to the initiative by a person for
the objectives. It is considered as a source of self-respect,
satisfaction, and fulfillment.

Importance of Workplace Ethics

Workplace ethics ensures positive ambience at the workplace. Workplace ethics leads to happy and
satisfied employees who enjoy coming to work rather than treating it as a mere source of burden.
Employees also develop a feeling of loyalty and attachment towards the organization.

Organizations need to have fool-proof systems to measure the performances of individuals. Appraisal
system needs to be designed keeping in mind employee’s performance throughout the year and his/her
career growth. Periodic reviews are essential.
It is mandatory for superiors to know what their subordinates are up to. You need to know who all are
going on the right track and who all need that extra push.

Workplace ethics ensures management guides and mentors their employees well. Appraisal and
salary hikes should not happen just for the name sake. Workplace ethics is important as it enables
management to treat all employees as equal and think from their perspective as well. Employees must
have a say in their appraisal system. Transparency is essential.

An employee is bound to move on after a year or so if he/she is not appreciated and rewarded suitably. It
is indeed the organization’s loss when employees after being trained quit and move on. Do you think it is
entirely the employee’s fault? Why would an employee move on if he/she is fully satisfied with his/her
current assignment?

Employees change primarily because of two reasons - Career growth and monetary
benefits. Management needs to make employees feel secure about their job and career.
Unnecessary favouritism is against workplace ethics. If you favour anyone just because he is your
relative, the other team members are bound to feel demotivated and thus start looking for new
opportunities. An individual’s output throughout the year should decide his/her increment.

Organizations need to stand by their employees even at the times of crisis. You cannot ask your
employees to go just because you don’t need them anymore or your work is over. Such a practice is
unethical. How can you play with someone’s career?

If an individual has performed well all through but fails to deliver once or twice, you just can’t kick him out
of the system. Workplace ethics says that organizations need to retain and nurture talents.

If you have hired someone, it becomes your responsibility to train the individual, make him/her aware of
the key responsibility areas, policies, rules and regulations and code of conduct of the organization.
Employees need to be inducted well into the system. They must be aware of the organization’s policies
from the very first day itself.

Workplace ethics also go a long way in strengthening the bond among employees and most
importantly their superiors. Employees tend to lie if you do not allow them to take leaves. If you do not
allow an employee to take leave on an important festival, what do you expect the employee to do? What
is the alternative left with him? He would definitely lie. Do not exploit your employees and don’t treat them
as machines.

No employee can work at a stretch without taking a break. It is okay if they talk to their fellow workers
once in a while or go out for a smoke break. Understand their problems as well. If you feel the problem is
genuine, do not create an issue. It is but natural that once or twice they would definitely call their family
members and enquire about their well-being. Superiors should not have a problem with that.

It has been observed that organizations which are impartial to employees, lend a sympathetic ear to their
grievances and are employee friendly, seldom face the problems of unsatisfied employees and high
attrition rate.

Importance of Ethics
Most of us would agree that it is ethics in practice that makes sense; just having it carefully drafted and
redrafted in books may not serve the purpose. Of course all of us want businesses to be fair, clean and
beneficial to the society. For that to happen, organizations need to abide by ethics or rule of law, engage
themselves in fair practices and competition; all of which will benefit the consumer, the society and
organization.

Primarily it is the individual, the consumer, the employee or the human social unit of the society who
benefits from ethics.

In addition ethics is important because of the following:

1. Satisfying Basic Human Needs: Being fair, honest and ethical is one the basic human needs.
Every employee desires to be such himself and to work for an organization that is fair and ethical in
its practices.
2. Creating Credibility: An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is respected in
the society even by those who may have no information about the working and the businesses or an
organization. Infosys, for example is perceived as an organization for good corporate governance
and social responsibility initiatives. This perception is held far and wide even by those who do not
even know what business the organization is into.
3. Uniting People and Leadership: An organization driven by values is revered by its employees also.
They are the common thread that brings the employees and the decision makers on a common
platform. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors within the organization towards achievement of
one common goal or mission.
4. Improving Decision Making: A man’s destiny is the sum total of all the decisions that he/she takes
in course of his life. The same holds true for organizations. Decisions are driven by values. For
example an organization that does not value competition will be fierce in its operations aiming to
wipe out its competitors and establish a monopoly in the market.
5. Long Term Gains: Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run, though
in the short run they may seem to lose money. Tata group, one of the largest business
conglomerates in India was seen on the verge of decline at the beginning of 1990’s, which soon
turned out to be otherwise. The same company’s Tata NANO car was predicted as a failure, and
failed to do well but the same is picking up fast now.
6. Securing the Society: Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law machinery is
often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and the environment. Technology,
for example is growing at such a fast pace that the by the time law comes up with a regulation we
have a newer technology with new threats replacing the older one. Lawyers and public interest
litigations may not help a great deal but ethics can.
Ethics tries to create a sense of right and wrong in the organizations and often when the law fails, it is the
ethics that may stop organizations from harming the society or environment.

Tips to Promote Workplace Ethics

Workplace ethics ensures employees are treated with utmost respect. It also leads to a sense of
satisfaction among employees and they develop a feeling of attachment towards their respective
organizations. The feeling of loyalty is a feeling which is seen in very few individuals. For them, going to
work is the best source of earning money and also keeping one-selves occupied. Organizations often
complain of employees moving on when they are fully trained. An organization invests its time, money
and energy in training a new employee and thus it is a big blow when he/she quits all of a sudden.
The best way to promote workplace ethics is to be very specific and careful while recruiting
potential employees who would be representing the top levels especially the human resource
department. It is rightly said that human resource professionals are the face of an organization. They
need to understand the psychology of individuals well as they are the ones who have the responsibility of
formulating policies, rules and regulations of the organization. Remember, policies should neither be too
flexible nor too rigid. If policies are too flexible, no one actually follows them and if policies are too rigid,
again employees would depend on excuses and lies to escape them. You must understand your nature of
business. An organization which works primarily for US Clients can’t ask employees to report early in the
morning as I am sure employees must be working till late or probably the whole night.

Human resource professionals ought to communicate the organization policies and code of
conduct clearly to the employees the very first day. Also send them a mail for their ready reference.
Tell them very clearly the office timings, hierarchy, dress code, salary structure, leave procedure,
reporting structure and so on. In this case, they would never have an excuse later. Tell them from the very
beginning that there are certain things which are expected out of them and organization is very strict on
certain policies like coming to office on time, informed leaves etc. Make them clear that if they are caught
bunking office or participating in unfair practices like stealing, passing on confidential information, they
would be shown the exit door the very next day. Trust me, no one would even think of doing the same.
Problems arise when employees are not aware of rules and regulations. Transparency between
management and employees is of utmost importance and the best way to promote workplace ethics.

Listen to what your employees have to say. Let them come out with their problems. Superiors need
to interact with employees on a regular basis and address their grievances. Management needs to make
employees feel comfortable. They might come up with lots of issues and as a boss it is your responsibility
to guide them and help them with a solution. Even if the problem is illogical, do not be harsh to them.
Make them realize as to where they are wrong. Open communication is the best way to promote
workplace ethics. Constant mentoring plays an important role in motivating the employees to adhere to
the organization policies.

No employee should be given special treatments. Bonuses and hikes must be proportional to the
employee’s performance over a period of time. Appreciating the employee who really deserves is
essential. Do not favour anyone just because you like him/her.Fair judgement is of utmost importance.
You have nothing to do with his/her personal life. There should be absolutely no problem if an employee
goes out to meet his girlfriend after office hours.

Organization needs to support its employees always, even at the hours of crisis. Job security and
constant career growth are two most important factors which ensure employees stick around for a
long time and also are satisfied with their current assignment. If employees are happy and
contended and feel respected, they would also strive hard to deliver their level best everytime.

Examples of Ethical Behaviors in The Workplace 

Examples of ethical behaviors in the workplace includes; obeying the

company’s rules, effective communication, taking responsibility, accountability,
professionalism, trust and mutual respect for your colleagues at work. These
examples of ethical behaviors ensures maximum productivity output at work.
And could be pivotal for career growth.
  Obey The Company’s Rules & Regulation

 At the start of an employee contract, companies may need the employee to sign
various documents, including the company rules and regulation agreement form.
Also, the employee may be given a handbook that may serve as a guide.

Some common rules are tardiness, inappropriate dressing, and language, etc.
Due to the excitement of getting a new job, some employees do not properly
read these rules and may end up deferring them in the future.

Therefore, it is important that new employees properly read these rules &
regulations in other not to defer them.

 Communicate Effectively

Effective communication is very important to avoid misunderstandings when

dealing with issues in the workplace. Communicating effectively may mean
different things to people at different points in time.

Let us consider the hypothetical situation of an employee trying to relay

information to a French-speaking customer. The best way to communicate
effectively with the customer is to have an employee who can speak French
relay the information. 

Effective communication may also have an employee breaking one of the rules
and regulations of the company without getting penalized for it. An employee
reaching out to HR that they will be coming in late due to some unforeseen
circumstances may be spared for coming late if the situation is properly
communicated. 

 Develop Professional Relationships

Good professional relationships are not only a thing that fosters teamwork
among employees, but also help with individual career development for
employees. Developing professional relationships with coworkers or other
professionals outside the workplace will also directly or indirectly improve
productivity. 

Professional relationships between low-level and high-level employees will

make it easier for ideas to be shared and knowledge to be passed to junior
employees. That way, the company can confidently have an intern work on a
tough project to meet a pending deadline due to the guidance from older
employees.

Salespeople, for one, need to build external professional relationships with

professionals from other organizations—especially those who are potential
clients. These relationships will help create a contact person in another
organization in case they need to sell a product to them.

 Take Responsibility

 It is important for employees to always take responsibility for decisions made
both individually and in a team. This is, in fact, a leadership trait that every
employee who is looking to take up a managerial position in the future should
exhibit.

Understandably, employees may want to save their job and are therefore scared
of taking responsibility for a particular event. However, they shouldn’t let this
fear take them.out of the team.
For example, the communications team came up with a marketing strategy for
the company and it failed. The team members are to jointly take responsibility
for this failure, not individuals coming out that they weren’t part of the decision
making process.

If the strategy has gone the other way round, they wouldn’t have said the same.

 Professionalism/Standards

There are professional standards that everything an employee does in the

workplace. The use of informal words in a formal workplace is highly
unprofessional. 

These standards should be held high and applied to every part of an employee’s
activity in the workplace. This should include the way they speak, kind of work
they deliver and their relationship with coworkers and customers.

 Be Accountable

 Accountability is also a very good trait of an employee. One of the things that
may short change a talented and responsible is the lack of accountability. 

Lack of accountability may result in your boss thinking you have an “I don’t
care attitude” to the company’s project or worst take you as a liar and may lead
to job loss in the long run. For example, at the beginning of each year, a certain
amount of money is allocated to each department.

The manager is meant to oversee how this money is spent. If at the end of the
year, the manager can not make an account of how the money was spent, he
may then be suspected of stealing company funds.

 Uphold Trust

An employee should not do anything that may make his or her employee
withdraw trust. As an employee of a company, your employee trusts you to get
work done perfectly on time.

Things like missing deadlines regularly or delivering work that needs to be

revised over and over again will deny you a promotion. It may even leave the
employer not giving you tasks to complete in the future—a nightmare for
freelancers.

 Show Initiative without being told

Is the company running behind deadline and you feel you can stay a few extra
hours after work to finish up? Do it.

You are a freelance designer and your client wants a particular poster designed
but doesn’t have a copywriter to write the content. If you can write the contents,
do so. Don’t delay a client’s work because of a few contents.

 Respect Your Colleagues

It doesn’t matter whether you are dealing with the intern, a junior, janitor, etc.
they should all be treated with respect. As a manager, treating your team
members with respect will help improve their productivity.

Giving constructive criticism and saying kind words to them even when they are
not able to deliver perfectly will help them strive to do better in the future.

 Work Smarter

 Don’t just work hard, work smarter. The reason why you see an employee
promoted to the post of manager after just 2 years and a hardworking employee
who has been with the company for 10 years failed to get a promotion is smart
work.

Assume that these 2 employees are data scientists who collect data and analyze
them. A smarter employee will use the Formplus data collection tool to collect
data and receive real-time data analytics, while a hard-working employee will
print paper-based forms and do the hard work of sharing it to respondents.

Unethical Workplace Behaviors

 Lies

Lying is a trait that is detested in and outside the workplace. It kills trust, affects
relationships and may even put people in trouble.
There are different situations where employees lie in the workplace—with just
one lie opening the floor for many others. It could be a sales manager lying
about the number of clients they were able to get in a month or an employee
calling in sick just to attend another job interview. 

A lot of employees start lying from their CV, by adding experiences they didn’t
acquire, and the skills they don’t have. Employees need to understand that lying
about work may eventually get them in trouble and needs to stop before they
lose their job. 

However, we notice that employees lie due to fear of their employer—an

employee will call in sick to go for interviews because companies frown against
employees interviewing at another company. HR should put up a more friendly
culture that will encourage people to progress in their careers taking up other
jobs and even support them throughout the process.

 Taking Credit for Others Hard Work

It is very common for managers to take credit for their team member’s hard
work when reporting to the management. A team member may have brought an
idea that helped the sales team improve their sales by 200%.

However, when giving a report, the manager doesn’t mention the team
member’s name but claims the idea as his. Employees need to reduce the use of
“I”, but embrace the use of ” We”.

By taking credit for another person’s work, you will be denying the person a
promotion, bonus or commendation for a job well done. This will discourage the
person from sharing ideas that will benefit the company in the future. 

 Verbal Harassment/Abuse

Employees need to stay away from using foul language on coworkers in and out
of the workplace. This is very important when dealing with customers.

Customers are known to get angry and may result in verbal abuse due to a bad
product or service. They may even get insult you when they are at fault.
As a customer care representative, salesperson or any other employee, it is beth
important that you don’t use abusive words on customers no matter how
provoked.

 Violence

Similar to verbal harassment, employees should not be violent when dealing

with coworkers and customers. Customers may likely provoke you, but it is
better to keep shut and walk away rather than turn violent.

 Non-Office Related Work

 A lot of employees have side hustles which they use to supplement salaries.
This is very good and only very few companies are against employees working
to make money outside work hours.

However, some employees still do non-office related work during office hours.
Employees who have side hustles should try doing them on weekends or
employing other people to handle some of the business logistics to avoid eating
into office hours to get the work done.

 Extended Breaks

Companies give lunch breaks to employees and people take advantage of these
breaks to do other things outside office work like, go for interviews, meet with
friends or even work on their side hustles. They are free to do whatever they
want these lunch breaks. 

Employees, however, take advantage of these lunch breaks and extend them
beyond time. 

 Theft/Embezzlement

Some employees are known for diverting company funds into their bank
accounts—padding project quotations, invoices, etc. to deceive the company on
how much was spent on particular projects.

This act is detrimental to the company because employees who steal sometimes
replace quality products with counterfeits which are cheaper but causes damage
in the future.

 Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is an offense that is not limited to the workplace alone. An

employee accused of sexual harassment will not only face consequences in the
workplace but also tried at a court of law.

Many companies have a zero-tolerance rate for sexual harassment in and outside
the workplace. This may tarnish the company’s reputation and the only way to
curb is to make an example of defaulters.

 Corrupt Practices

Some common causes of corruption can be seen during the employment process
of an organization. They invite so many people to send their CVs and come for
interviews but only people with the same political affiliation with them get the
job.
This is also common with companies that ask for contractors to bid for a project
but the employees will only give them to their friends who may not even bid at
all.

Get started with our workplace harassment form template to receive feedback

from employees

Management/Employers Unethical Behaviors 

Workplace ethics is not for employees alone. Employers are also bound to
workplace ethics and may also be tried for unethical behavior.

 Sex for Job/Promotion

It is common for managers, employers and major decision-makers to use their

position in the workplace to influence the hiring decision in exchange for sex. 

 Late Night Out/Unpaid Overtime

Some employers take advantage of desperate job seekers and the competitive
job market to use employees’ leisure time as they wish. They do so with the
mentality that they are doing employees a favor by employing them, not
knowing that the favor is mutual.

Employees who are scared of queries or job loss are not able to protest the
infringement into their private time by the employer.

 Verbal Harassment

It is common among employers to verbally harass employees when they make

little mistakes. This will reduce employee morale and productivity.

Employers should always say kind words to their employees. 

 Undue Pressure

Deadlines are a great way to make sure the work gets done on time. However,
when employees are placed under undue pressure, they end up trading quality
for on-time delivery.
An example of undue pressure will be giving an employee a 1-day deadline for
a project that would normally take a week.

 Nepotism

This is a common type of corruption that happens in the workplace. An

employee who has been working hard for years while influencing company
growth may get sidelined for a promotion because of another employee who is a
family friend, family, or friend of the employer. Things like this are what reduce
employee morale or even push talented employees to dropping a resignation.

 Unfriendly Work Environment

One of the things that can mar productivity is an unfriendly working

environment. This may come as a combination of abusive bosses, lack of
commendation, nepotism, etc. An unfriendly environment is an environment
that combines various unethical behaviors into one.

 Unrealistic Expectations

Creatives usually have it worse when it comes to having unrealistic expectations

from employees. 

Advantages and Implications of Workplace Ethics

1. It can stimulate positive employee behavior and create a positive

ambiance in the workplace
2. Ensures management guides and mentors their employees in a healthy
environment
3. A workplace with good ethics usually strengthens the bond employees
have with their superior
4. It boosts productivity through employee performance and job satisfaction
which in turn increases company growth.
5. Bad workplace ethics can cause a strain in the relationship with company
stakeholders
6. When it leaks (which it most likely will) poor behavior can be recorded
and propelled into unsavory headlines online. This can lead to
reputational damage to the brand name.
How to Solve Unethical Issues at the Workplace 
1. Have Rules

Organizations need to have predefined rules and regulations regarding

workplace ethics. These rules and regulations should be given to new employees
together with their employment contracts.

Also having the rules written at strategic places at the workplace will also help
remind people about the rules. People tend to unconsciously imbibe things they
see every day.
2. Accept Feedback/Complaint

Make it easy for employees to send feedback or complaint in case of

harassment, abuse, or any other unethical activities going on in the workplace.  

With tools like Formplus, you can create online forms to receive complaints
on workplace harassment or any other unethical behaviors 
3. List Consequences for Unethical Behaviors

Consequences for unethical behaviors should also be placed alongside the rules
at strategic places in the organization. That way, if anyone wants to ignore the
rules despite seeing them, the fear of getting punished will stop him or her from
going ahead.
4. Swift Justice/Disciplinary Action

Some Companies often cover up issues of rape, sexual harassment, etc. when

the perpetrator is a high-ranking member of the organization. Things like this
should not be accommodated.

Irrespective of who breaks the rule, there should be swift disciplinary action by
the organization.