Question: As many organizations continue to lay off employees, CEOs and top managers are taking home record salaries. In the United States, the differences between what employees at the very top of an organization make and those at the very bottom tend to be much greater than they are in other countries. When layoffs take place, CEOs and top managers typically indicate that they are an economic necessity. Yet these very same people might be earning millions of dollars a year. There are many cases of a major layoff taking place in the same year that a CEO of the company laying off employees earned a record salary.
1. Are there ethical implications of organizations laying off hundreds of employees in the same year that the CEOs earn record salaries? If so, what are these ethical implications? If not, why not?
2. What ethical obligations do organizations have when they are considering laying off employees?