Although you’ve been in your new executive management position for barely a year, you have had abundant opportunities for decision making. You have had the final say on a new advertising campaign, an employee washroom remodel, and the selection of the company’s uniform vendor. You’ve met with community leaders to discuss your company’s participation in a fundraiser for the local food pantry and with the press to announce your company’s plan to bring 50 new jobs to the area. Surprisingly, however, you’ve had little experience with human resource issues.

But that changed this morning, when a colleague mentioned that a relatively new executive assistant named Sherry had taken a second job with another company in the evenings. Sherry has been at your company for only three months, but in that time, proved to be reliable, resourceful and intelligent.

“She’s doing well, though. Doesn’t she like her job here?”, you asked your colleague.

“She does, but she can earn an extra $200 a week at the second job. She says she’s saving to back to school,” he responded.

Sherry is fast becoming a valuable employee but the company has a policy against moonlighting. You expect your employees to give their best each day on the job. If they spend what would otherwise be leisure time working for someone else, they won’t be fresh, alert, and productive when they come to work for you. At the same time, you remember how you worked several jobs to save money for graduate school. If you had been able to make enough money at one job, you wouldn’t have pushed yourself to work there. You think briefly about giving Sherry a raise, but then recall that the company’s policy is not to review new employees for raises or promotions until they’ve spent at least six months on the job. Sherry’s only halfway there. Still, it would be a shame to see such a promising employee lose his spark from overwork and fatigue.

Discuss among your group members on the following questions:

1. How is this decision emblematic of your job as a manager and your transition into that position?

2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of giving Sherry a raise before the customary period.

3. Would you break the company policy and give Sherry a raise three months early, or not? If no, explain how you would address the moonlighting situation.

4. Regardless of Sherry’s situation, would it be better in the long run for your company to continue or end its “no moonlighting” policy?