renege analysis

Reneging is “queuing and then leaving”. Reneging occurs when a person accepts a job offer, and then backs out before work begins. The prospective employee might have gotten a better offer, or simply reconsidered for other reasons.

Reneging on a Job Offer is considered an egregious breach of ethics and will create an adverse relationship between you and the employer. From an ethical standpoint, employees often don’t see a problem with backing out of an offer if something better comes along. In the article published by Professor Tonia Hap Murphy, University of Notre Dame Business “Reneging: A Topic to Promote Engaging Discussions About Law and Ethics in a Business Law or Legal Environment Course “One of my students said it’s just the way of the world, an accepted business strategy,” said Murphy. She pointed to a study by another university that found 44 percent of young adults agreed that reneging is acceptable if offered a better job with a different company.

“But employees would get terribly upset if an employer reneged on them. I’d like them to question why they believe reneging by employers is an ethical violation, while employees may renege with impunity,” she added.

Most importantly, never accept an offer and continue looking for additional opportunities. This strategy is considered an egregious breach of ethics, and can seriously harm your reputation in your chosen field. Employers in competitive fields worry about this practice to the extent that it is not unheard of for a firm to rescind an offer if they find out that you have already accepted one from another organization. Keep in mind that recruiters within fields usually know one another, and have been known to compare notes. Similarly, employers often self-police the practice of reneging on offers by rescinding any offer to a candidate who has reneged with another firm. When you ultimately come to a conclusion, it is important to remember that it is a small world. The opportunity you don't take today may well be right for you in a few years. Being as gracious when declining an offer as you are when accepting one can go a long way towards building a network of contacts that will stay with you a lifetime.

 
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