Unethical behavior of a colleague - should I report it?

My colleague's unethical behavior bothers me. I have been working abroad as an IT specialist for 20 years. Under my stewardship, one of the projects, which was outsourced to an Indian company, faced some delays. 

Blaming me unfairly for the delay, a co-worker accused me of being  racially biased & not protecting the interest of my organization. I was very upset with his accusation and it led to a heated altercation.

After a few months, I learnt that the co-worker was involved in some unethical practices and hired one of his relatives in our organization. I kept HR informed (verbally). I also got to know the co-worker was leaking company information to his spouse who works for a competing firm. Should I escalate the matter & make a written incident report or simply ignore it?

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Abhijit Bhaduri replies: 

Let's take the first case in which you were accused of favouring a vendor because it happened to be an Indian firm. Your colleague is accusing you of not being neutral in your judgement.

1. I suggest you set up a meeting with the general manager and the co-worker. Stay calm during the meeting as displaying anger will reinforce the belief of your colleague that there must have been some truth in the allegation.

2. Use the meeting to highlight the real reasons for the project delay, which also involved some colleagues from other departments.

3. Establish that your decision was well thought-out. It can be defended by using data.

   1. Put it on record how you were instrumental in diversifying the vendor pool.

   2. Also, spell out the reasons why the outsourcing company was chosen since it was not only competent but also helped your organization to stay profitable. With facts and figures, you should show there were no personal gains involved while hiring the vendor.

Your co-worker sharing company details with his spouse, who works for a competitor, is a clear case of conflict of interest of your colleague. Your cooleague is guilty of violating the terms of employment (check your appointment letter to verify the specific clause). Sharing business ideas or plans with someone outside the organization must only be done with the prior written approval of the manager. But remember, the onus of providing evidence is always on the accuser. So, if you have the evidence of sharing business secrets, then put it in writing to your manager, the HR department and the company's legal counsel.

I suggest you compile and keep the evidence in the first issue (allegation of bias involving Indian outsourcing company) with you but do not raise it as it will show you as being retaliatory - especially if you intend to raise the issue of your colleague sharing company information unauthorisedly. Regarding the hiring case, since it was a verbal complaint and there is nothing on record, your position may not be on a strong footing.

You need to choose your battles wisely.

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That is what I suggested. How would you have counselled this person? Do leave your advice in the comments below.

A version of this appeared in The Times of India dated 18 May 2019