Ethical breaches and misconduct frequently go unreported study finds
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A quarter of Canadian employees say they have identified wrongdoing or misconduct in their day to day work but only 56% of them spoke up.
With ethics increasingly important for businesses and investors, the findings of a survey from the Institute of Business Ethics reveals that most of those who would not report an issue either believe that no action would be taken (38%) or that they would be considered a troublemaker by management (35%).
It’s the first time that the IBE has conducted its Ethics in Work survey in Canada but it has carried out similar studies in countries including Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
The report highlights the strong shareholder voice in Canada, led by institutional investors who have “long set the tone, punishing harshly companies when ethics are compromised while holding their votes and even publicly displaying their arguments.”
Pressure to compromise ethics
But the report also finds that 30% of those workers who were aware of misconduct felt pressured to compromise their organization’s ethical standards compared to just 5% of those who had not experienced misconduct.
“The lack of confidence which Canadian employees have in their Speak Up procedures is worrying, given the pressure which they are under to compromise ethical standards,” said Philippa Foster Back CBE, Director of the Institute of Business Ethics. “If organisations demonstrate their commitment to addressing concerns, employees will be more inclined to speak up about misconduct. Providing support for employees to do the right thing is vital in establishing a culture in which employees feel confident to ‘do the right thing’.”
Managers play a key role in promoting ethics within an organisation, and the study says it is worrying that Canadian managers are less likely to be aware of their organisation having a code of ethics or similar document than non-managers.
For the first time, the IBE’s Ethics at Work survey of employees has been conducted in Canada.
— Inst Business Ethics (@IBEUK) June 28, 2019
What are Canadian employees’ perception of honesty, misconduct and speaking up?https://t.co/u8ITXeBNBc#ethicsatwork #employees #canada #ethics #businessethics pic.twitter.com/PYjdXKu9YG
