Ethics at Work: 2013 Survey Finds Positive Trends; Some Troubling Findings

Last month, the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) released its biennial National Business Ethics Survey (NBES). I was honored to serve on the NBES Advisory Panel this year, particularly given its reputation as a definitive barometer of workplace ethics. As we’ve seen in prior years, the survey shows some very positive trends as well as causes for real concern and further attention.

The good news is significant. Workplace misconduct is at an historic low, at 41%—down from 45% in 2011 and from the record high of 55% in 2007. The NBES also found that only 9% of employees felt pressure to compromise their standards, down from 13% in 2011. This is an excellent trend and one that must continue, even as the economy shows signs of improvement and temptations for personal gain may increase.

Culture is a powerful antidote. The NBES findings suggest that the dip in misconduct may reflect a greater corporate emphasis on ethics through training, communications and other measures. The percentage of companies with “strong” or “strong-leaning” ethical cultures increased to 66% in 2013, compared with 60% in 2011; 81% of respondent companies provided ethics training, up from 74% in 2011; and two-thirds of companies included ethical conduct as a performance measure in employee evaluations, up from 60% in 2011. Underscoring the importance of transparency and open communication, nearly three out of four companies communicated internally about disciplinary actions when wrongdoing occurs.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t all good. We were particularly troubled that 60% of corporate misconduct is committed by managers, from the supervisory level up to top management; nearly a quarter of observed misdeeds involved senior managers; and 26% of respondents indicated that misconduct is ongoing within their organization (i.e. not a one-time act).

We continue to have serious concerns about retaliation and its ability to silence truthtellers. Among those who observed misconduct in 2013, 63% reported what they saw, a decline from 65% in 2011. For the second straight survey, more than one in five workers who reported misconduct said they experienced retaliation. This is unacceptable. High retaliation rates discourage reporting and make it harder for organizations to identify and eliminate bad behavior. These numbers need to change for real ethical progress to occur. Good ethics is good business. Shareholders and the public-at-large deserve credible reform, which can only come when corporate leadership builds an engaged culture committed to integrity.
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