Ethical Dilemmas

Explain how you handled a situation when you had to make an important ethical decision.

The weatherization program executed by GreenSaver was set up to help low income families retrofit their homes to better stand against weathering. This includes installing insulation in walls and attics, weather-stripping windows and doors, and caulking around windows. This helps them to reduce the amount of energy required to heat/cool their homes. How the process works is by families applying for the program, and they will get approved for a certain amount of weatherization work to be done on their homes. The ethical problem occurs when clients complain about not being approved for enough work being done on their house. I often received calls pleading for more work to be approved, however I was restricted by the program’s policy.

At first, I struggled with the idea that we couldn’t help some of our clients further. However, the more I worked alongside my team, the more I realized that these policies were in place for a good reason. Although I would want to help these families asking for more work to be done, I realized that the policies were in place to distribute the budget towards families that were in higher need for these retrofit projects.

This realization helped me become a more efficient team member as I wasn’t always guessing if I was making the right decision. It also helped me talk through these decisions and reason with the clients asking for more work. This was also a learning opportunity for me because although situations may be seemingly unfair, I learned it was important to step back and see the bigger picture, and the effects of my actions.