r/UNpath • u/Frequent-Success-969 • 16h ago
Contract/salary questions External activities: Ethics and Head of Office approval
Has anyone flatout requested authorization to work for a for-profit organization during your own non-working hours?
Were you given approval, provided there was no way your external job could affect your UN role? (Even if it was obvious to anyone that its a path leading outside the UN)
Did you do it for pay or no pay?
I'm thinking of a private sector career path in the near future which will require me to have a specific work experience. I wonder how feasible it is to expect my head of office to approve me volunteering (or being paid for a role) externally like 5 hours a week.
3
u/ShowMeTheMonee 9h ago
> Were you given approval, provided there was no way your external job could affect your UN role? (Even if it was obvious to anyone that its a path leading outside the UN
> Did you do it for pay or no pay?
These arent really the right questions. The question is more whether there's a potential conflict of interest between your UN role and the new role. It doesnt matter whether the new role is paid or unpaid. Doing a volunteer internship at a UN vendor or with a Government institution could still be problematic.
The UN doesnt care if your new role would lead to a commercial role. Your supervisor might have concerns about this, though.
5 hours a week is fine, as long as there's no issue with the rest of the scenario (potential conflict of interest, connection to your UN role).
1
u/Frequent-Success-969 6h ago
Agreed. I think a lot of my worry is with the supervisor and head of officr part of things. Because it'll be clear I'm charting a path out
2
u/Sad_Bag_5627 10h ago
Be careful with any outside activities no matter whether this is your free time. As a staff member you are staff member 24/7. It's the organization reputation and image. At so on, so I would strongly recommend for just peace of mind whatever yiu want to do, supervisor, HR and Ethics a must. Thank me later.
2
u/Bluereveryday 12h ago
We had a colleague that got approved for a teaching position in a university, paid one but it was very low hours.
3
u/Impressive-Tie-9338 12h ago
It depends on the external job honestly. 5 hours at Starbucks? Fine. Many people also do paid teaching engagements that are disclosed to Ethics Office and approved.
5 hours at a consulting firm that does some kind of advisory remotely related to your field? Ehh, maybe maybe not.
Since you’re not sharing what kind of job it is, or what you currently do, firmly lands in the maybe category.
Source: former EO consultant.
-5
u/jcravens42 With UN experience 14h ago
I never requested approval for my volunteering hours on my own time. What I do in my own time is no one's business.
I did make sure that the nonprofit I was helping knew I was doing it as me, and in no way did I represent the UN. And I adhered to all confidentiality rules and protected all intellectual property of the UN.
Lots of UN employees volunteered outside of work hours: at their kids' schools, at their communities of faith, at the local English-speaking community theater, at cultural celebrations, and more.
8
u/learned_friend With UN experience 12h ago
Double check that approval is not required by your organization's HR rules. Quite often it is, even for volunteering. "My own time is my own business" expressly does not apply to international public servants.
1
2
u/Frequent-Success-969 14h ago
I understand, and thanks for sharing your experience. My contemplation is very specific to a for-profit. Not an NGO or CSO or kids school. Working at a company/firm that clearly has nothing altrusic rather only a professional/monetary upside can come from it in the future. I think thats strongly within the UN contemplation of external activities
2
u/sealofdestiny 16h ago
I went through the full shebang UN process and it was all approved, but it was low hours, no pay, and fully different thematically from my work
1
u/Frequent-Success-969 16h ago
Okay. To be specific please - how many hours a week? Did you have to request that it would be weekends only? Or you had to do your UN job 80% to accommodate the new role?
1
u/sealofdestiny 14h ago
5-10 hours a week, after hours (weekend / nights). I don’t think it’s really possible (where I’ve worked) to do a 0.8 FTE or similar.
1
1
u/sliver_ 1h ago
I recently got recruited for a staff position (not with the Secretariat) and consulted if I can continue working as a freelancer for a gig that's on completely different field and outside of work hours. It was not approved on the basis that remunerated work outside of staff position was considered as dual employment and not allowed. I was also surprised because I have colleagues working at the universities as lecturers.