A quarter of workers are prepared to perform unethical actions at their workplace.
A recent study by consulting firm EY revealed that over a third of the over 5,000 employees surveyed across 53 countries would consider engaging in unethical behavior at work if asked by their superiors. The unethical behavior includes corruption, bribery, theft, bullying, and greenwashing.
Out of these, 38% of employees could imagine violating ethical norms if their supervisors demanded it. Interestingly, 90% of respondents were convinced that their coworkers would stick to legal and ethical guidelines.
Potential unethical conduct extends to breaking compliance standards, violating industry regulations, or harassing others. 31% of those surveyed believed that such behavior would be more acceptable for senior executives or highly successful colleagues. EY Germany's Tobias Schuhmacher commented on this: "If these rotten apples remain unpunished, the message sent within the company is devastating and undermines all integrity efforts."
On a positive note, 49% of the respondents noticed a significant improvement in integrity standards in their workplaces over the past two years.
(Disclaimer: Images, headers, lists, links and highlighting remain the same in paraphrasing)
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Despite the four-fifths of employees believing their colleagues adhere to ethical guidelines, four out of every ten employees might still consider engaging in unethical behavior if urged by their superiors. This concerning behavior, including corruption and bullying, could potentially impact job performance and damage the company's reputation.
