Office indiscretions don’t have to mean bidding farewell to careers: experts
Severity and nature of incident could be factors in employee’s ability to move on
TORONTO Former senior Blackrock executive Mark Wiseman found out the hard way that companies these days have little tolerance for violations of rules governing workplace relationships.
But Wiseman, who left the asset management giant suddenly last week after acknowledging a consensual relationship with a colleague, might take solace in knowing that boardroom and executive transition experts suggest the career prospects of those who find themselves in similar situations aren’t necessarily bleak.
“I do think whatever triggered it matters,” said Ken Hugessen, whose Toronto-based firm Hugessen Consulting advises boards of large public companies on matters including leadership changes, compensation, and retention of senior executives.
While the consequences for workplace indiscretions are increasingly swift and severe, Hugessen noted that in some cases, depending on the severity of the incident or allegations, there is a growing sense that they do not have to be fatal to a career.
“If the offence were in any way oppressive, that makes you a bit more concerned, but often these things are described as completely consensual but contrary to company policy — which does not mean to say they’re acceptable, they’re not — but you may feel a little bit more inclination to at some point say, ‘Okay you’ve paid the price, now let’s move on.’”
Carol Hansell, senior partner at law firm Hansell LLP, part of the Hansell Mclaughlin Advisory Group, said that there is likely to be a “penalty phase” for any highly skilled executive who leaves under a cloud due to his or her personal behaviour. “The company (looking to hire) would have to recognize that the story will follow the executive,” said Hansell. “Increasingly … I think there is a sense developing that people pay a price for (their) mistake, but the penalty phase has to be over at some point.”
Wiseman, who ran the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board before joining Blackrock in 2016, is not the only high-profile businessman to have lost his job over a workplace romance.
In November, Mcdonald’s fired its chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, over a consensual relationship with a subordinate that the board determined violated the iconic fast-food chain’s policy.
A few months earlier, in July, Blackrock’s head of human resources Jeff Smith, who had been with the asset manager for more than a decade, resigned after he “failed to adhere to company policy,” the firm said at the time, without describing which policy had been breached. It was subsequently reported by Bloomberg that he, too, had engaged in a romantic relationship with a colleague.
The future for executives leaving senior jobs under such circumstances — including the length of any penalty phase — is likely to depend on the nature of the breach or offence, such as whether the executive displayed a single instance of poor judgment or an extended pattern of misbehaviour, according to Richard Leblanc, a professor of governance, law, and ethics at York University. “If the offence is an event, or a lapse in judgment, and occurred some time ago, and there is contrition and remorse, what is needed is time in the penalty box” before resuming a path to “earn a living,” Leblanc said.
He suggested someone jettisoned from a senior job at a major firm could market themselves as “a strategic poach for a smaller company with a lower profile and higher risk tolerance.”
While an executive could wait it out and attempt to return to something closer to what they left behind, Hugessen suggested that they might not be inclined to do so, given how highly motivated someone has to be to climb to the top of their industry.
He said it would be fairly easy to “recycle” themselves into leaders at private firms, where fewer public disclosure requirements would reduce the glare of public attention. “People who’ve been pretty darn successful have lots of alternatives, even if running a big public company may not be as accessible as it has been,” he said.
Boards of large, publicly traded firms would be much less likely to take the risk of hiring a high-profile executive on the heels of a personal comedown, even a minor one, Hugessen said — although he suggested some individual directors might be willing to fight for someone who also possesses prized business experience.
Still, Hugessen agreed that the risks to a public company of taking on such an individual would wane over time, and he did not entirely rule out the possibility of a more immediate comeback. “In a few years, it’s ancient history,” he said, noting that the freshly departed executive are often talented and their skills are hard to come by.