The study finds that in many cases, ethics programs are favorably linked to key ethics outcomes such as pressure to violate ethics standards, misconduct observed by employees, reporting of misconduct, employee satisfaction with their organizations and feeling valued as employees. The study also finds that ethical modeling by leaders and applying values like honesty, respect and trust at work are related to many of these outcomes. The survey finds that a greater number of U.S. corporations are promoting ethics in the workplace and supporting training programs. Still, one in eight employees say they feel pressure to compromise their organization's ethical standards. Employees with more than five years tenure in their organizations feel greater pressure to compromise ethical standards than do newer employees.
Employees report continuing cases of misconduct - from lying to bribing.
It is profoundly disturbing that many employees still feel pressured to abandon ethical values to boost business. The new findings result from a study conducted by the ERC from November 1999 to February 2000. All interviewees were over the age of 18, employed at least 20 hours per week and located across the contiguous 48 states. Experts in organizational ethics assessment and research served as advisors to the ERC on this project, which was developed by the ERC's Research Analyst Joshua Joseph. Mr. Joseph noted that the ERC last conducted a similar national survey in 1994.