What should they do?

[Brian D]

A company has interviewed a candidate for a job. The interview went good and the manager sent the candidate an unofficial offer. The candidate said it looked good and was expecting an official offer in the mail. The official offer arrived and it was much higher than the unofficial offer. The candidate signed the official offer and started working. Later it was found that the company made a mistake on the official offer letter.

In your opinion, what should the company do? What should the newly hired employee do?

 

[themadscientist]

Just like I tell my employees. "Be careful what you say because I have to keep the promises you make."

 

[Deleted member 78819]

Negotiate. Was the employee willing to take the unofficial salary in the first place? Does he want to keep the job?

 

[gards]

The negotiation was the lead-in to the lower offer. The official offer is the deal. As the offeror, I'd approach the employee with the truth, explain the mistake, ask the employee to negotiate lower but offer higher than the unofficial offer. The employee's answer tells you how well your interview process works on finding character and integrity in people.

 

[Scott B]

If the official offer was less.............. what would you do?

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

I'd be interested to see the consensus on this one myself. This actually happend to me. When meeting with personnell, the official line was that "they'd make it right" - by rewriting the contract with what they had originally meant!
Considering I was hired with 25years experience as an instructor(but not in public school) at an entry level salary more than a few thousand less than the delivery truck driver job I was leaving, I probably should have walked....:cussing: By the way, I was being paid the lower salary instead of the stated contracted one.

 

[Brian D]

Very interesting answers. This was a lunch time discussion with some colleagues of mine. The average consensus was the company should make good what the official contract stated. However, one guy brought up an interesting point.

He mention that in his contract there is a clause for dismissal without reason. If the employee challenged the offer he could be dismissed later on. That is something to think about. I think that is called retaliation in some fields of work, but at the same time the excuse the company can use is cut-backs. But I agree with most that the best thing to do is just accept what was originally offered and move on.

Another good point was the economy. One does not want to get put out again and having a job now is indeed a blessing.

But yes, there is too much information not available. You guys would not believe what we discuss at lunch sometimes. Mostly it is the rules we have to live by here in Afghanistan, and how we civilians are treated.

 

[themadscientist]

There are so many variables I don't think there is just one answer. If the company had initially made a good offer which then turned into an OMG offer, I could see being gracious, but if not. It looks bad that they made the mistake in the first place.

I prepare as much to interview applicants as I do when I am interviewing for a job. I just beleive that the company is applying for the job as the applicant's boss as much as the applicant is interviewing for the job. A screw up like this makes me wonder if when employed I can expect similar attention to detail in regards to my pay and benefits. :naughty:

 

[Eddie7045]

The most ethical thing to do is for the company to

offer a sweetened version of the original contract with the explaination that it was error and their offer of extra perks is a show of good faith. Barring the event of an obvious bait and switch situation, the employee should accept that offer.

 

[soling42]

It's always safer to ask. In this situation both parties would have started out better. On the one hand from the new employees side it might reveal other sloppy management issues that could be disastrous down the line. Is it safe for you to work where the accounting is a mess? Ask former Enron employees.

Or, it could have been a well disguised character test to see how the new guy did in disclosing known accounting problems that might benefit him. Every sharp employer knows that the greatest loss can come from "shrinkage" by his own employees through the back door.

I'd have asked BEFORE signing so I know where I stand (I hate surprises that hit my wallet) and so the employer knows that I can be a trusted team mate with his inevitable mistakes.

Mike

 

[Eddie7045]

Mike, good points.

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