Encouraging ethics in the workplace

Behaviour / 06 January 2012

The current state of the labour market, with its lack of pay rises and declining fringe benefits, might seem like the perfect environment for unethical behaviour to flourish. Yet the results of a recent poll are reassuring. Matt McAllister looks at how managers can maintain an ethical spirit

You’d be forgiven for thinking unethical behaviour is endemic in the workplace. From MPs claiming false expenses to the accounting scandal at Olympus, and from the massive financial fraud committed by Bernie Madoff to newspaper phone hacking, it seems there are few industries that haven’t been blighted by unscrupulous acts in recent years.

Yet we haven’t quite morphed into a society where greed is good and ethics are flexible. A recent poll by employment website Monster.com set out to examine the state of workplace ethics in the current climate. The results, perhaps surprisingly, are cheering. Out of respondents polled in the UK, 83% said they would not engage in unethical behaviour. Only eight per cent said they would do underhand things at work, while four per cent admitted they would break company policy and five per cent said they would break the law.

This put the UK behind Mexico, where 88% of respondents stated they wouldn’t engage in unethical behaviour, but ahead of the Netherlands, where 12% of respondents said they’d engage in underhand behaviour if it meant achieving success.

“The research we’ve done is reassuring,” says David Henry, vice president of marketing at Monster UK and Ireland. “The workplace has become much more pressurised since the economic downturn, but the poll shows that people are remaining ethical and not forgetting about a sense of trust and honesty. That’s very human.”

Low engagement

Nevertheless, the results indicate a certain level of unethical behaviour does occur, albeit on a limited scale, whether it’s violating company policy or breaking the law. There can be a variety of reason for unethical behaviour in the workplace, but Henry suggests that one big factor, particularly in the current climate, is low employee engagement.

It’s important for companies to create a sense of family within the business rather than a dog eat dog environment. If you don’t get it right, it can lead to a slightly selfish attitude, and potentially unethical behaviour.

David Henry, vice president of marketing, Monster UK and Ireland

“Let’s face it; a lot of employers are asking people to do more for less. This can obviously impact on how engaged an employee might be. So it’s important for employers to keep an eye on employees and make sure they aren’t becoming slowly stressed, which can perhaps lead to some of those more serious issues.”

Henry says one way that employers can do this is to encourage a strong sense of working as part of a team. “It’s important for companies to create a sense of family within the business rather than a dog eat dog environment with internal competition and selfish attitudes. And that’s regardless of the size – we employ over 5,000 people around the world, and there is a very strong sense of family within Monster. If you don’t get it right, I think it can lead to a slightly selfish attitude, and potentially unethical behaviour.”

Employers need to make their team feel valued if they are to care about the organisation, Henry adds. “If people feel they’ve been treated unfairly, they’re less likely to think twice before doing something they shouldn't. So there needs to be some form of reward – which doesn’t have to be financial. For example, at Monster we have a Friday beer trolley. It gives everybody a chance to sit down and talk to people in other departments. They can let out a bit of steam after the week, share a success they’ve had, or find a shoulder to cry on. That’s really important.”

Unethical behaviour can also be amplified by having a manager or leader who engages in bad behaviour themselves, as many recent scandals have demonstrated. “If the leadership is corrupt or unethical, you will often see that spread down through the organisation, because that behaviour is seen as acceptable,” Henry points out. “Business leaders need to set a clear example. They need to be beyond reproach.”

Thankfully though, unethical leaders such as Bernie Madoff are the exception rather than the rule. “You’re always going to get these instances of unethical behaviour, but I would suggest that they’re somewhat isolated,” Henry says. “If it happened on a daily basis we wouldn’t be reading about it in the newspaper as it would no longer be news.”