As organizations tell their people what to look out for, they're going to have the reported ethical violations go up, at least for a time. Sexual harassment and falsified records are the biggest ethical concerns for government workers, the survey found. Twenty-eight percent of public employees report being aware of those violations in their agencies. Meanwhile, conflicts of interest, lying to supervisors and discrimination are reported by about a quarter of public servants. Less than one third of government respondents say they feel comfortable reporting misconduct, despite the numerous ways ethical violations can be reported, including anonymous tips to inspector general hotlines.
People rank themselves higher ethically than they rank other people.
Similarly, senior managers tend to rank their organizations' ethical records better than their subordinates do. Walker speculates that senior managers are involved in setting ethics policies and devote resources to ethics training, so they tend to think their organizations are doing a good job. But communication may be a key problem. Thirty-seven percent of employees don't feel their leaders get the word out about the importance of ethics and values. Walker says managers need to make sure their organizations' images reflect good values because in a tight job market, employees become more discriminating in whom they work for.