CEBC IN THE NEWS

Errands for Boss:
Job Description or Conscription?

Published Monday, August 22, 2005 in the Star Tribune.

By Conrad Defiebre

In the bad old days, executives used their "Girl Fridays" to handle every kind of personal chore and nobody thought a thing of it. Times have changed, but how much?

Minneapolis schools Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles, under fire in part for allegedly misusing staff for personal errands, may soon find out. But the current investigation into whether she had her staff pay her bills using school district computers and make kennel and dog-grooming arrangements raises issues that are hardly unheard-of in executive suites across America.

"People are much more aware of it today -- what's appropriate and what's inappropriate," said Nan DeMars, an office ethics trainer, president of Executary Services of Edina and author of the book "You Want Me to Do What? When, Where & How to Draw the Line at Work."

DeMars and other experts in workplace ethics interviewed by the Star Tribune say that some personal demands by bosses that are acceptable in the business world may not be appropriate in the public sector, such as the school district offices that Peebles heads. And some demands may be acceptable if they are infrequent, but not if they become routine.

"There are different norms with government agencies," said Bob Shoemake of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. "Corporations often have somebody whose job it is to help an executive with personal matters."

In a 1995 survey by the International Association of Administrative Professionals, 54.7 percent of respondents acknowledged running personal errands for a supervisor and 67.1 percent said they had seen others do so.

When asked about specific chores such as buying gifts or picking up dry cleaning, however, only 14 percent said they had done so. Of that group, 13.6 percent said these extra responsibilities were specified in their job descriptions.

"There may be an occasion when a personal errand is needed to keep an executive on track," said Rick Stroud, spokesman for the association, which has headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. "But it shouldn't be chronic, and it should be spelled out in the job description."

New Boundaries

In the past, DeMars said, there was little discussion of the propriety of assistants running personal errands for their bosses. "You just did it," she said. "You didn't complain because you'd get fired." As an executive secretary years ago, she said, "I bought and sold stocks for my boss."

Now, she added, both executives and their aides are much more attuned to the ethics of such workplace situations. DeMars cites three standards for judging when personal chores for the boss have crossed an ethical line:

• The duties are performed on the assistant's own time, with no compensation.

• The executive directs the aide not to tell anyone else about the chore.

• The assistant must work extra hours to complete his or her own duties because so much time is spent on the boss' personal tasks.

But St. Thomas' Shoemake suggested that even situations that don't reach those levels of concern could cause problems if they fly in the face of the organization's cultural values.

"It's important for leaders to embody the values of an organization," he said. "If there's no consistency there, then you're going to be in trouble. People will still follow you because they're supposed to, but their level of commitment will be dramatically reduced."

Public Trust

For Peebles, whose tenure as superintendent has been widely described as stormy, the public trust she bears may be the key factor in determining the propriety of the chores she asks of her subordinates. But she is not the first public official to face such allegations.

Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Sikorski, D-Minn., was accused in 1988 of calling on his staff members to shovel snow at his home in Washington, D.C., drive his daughter to and from school and help his wife breed dogs. Sikorski said such personal services were performed voluntarily and not at his request, and the House Ethics Committee dismissed a formal complaint against him.

But former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift drew a $1,250 fine from the State Ethics Committee for having aides baby-sit her infant daughter when she was lieutenant governor.

© Copyright 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

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