National Ethics Business Survey for 2007

The Ethics Resource Center (ERC), America’s oldest nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in workplaces, has just released its 2007 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES). NBES is the only nationally projectable view of ethics within the private sector, as reported by almost 2,000 employees at all levels within public and private companies of all size.  

The findings are revealing and also quite troubling.They show that the risk of misconduct in America’s companies has risen to pre-Enron levels and that management may have no knowledge about this misconduct, because more than two in five employees did not report it through company channels. The findings also reveal that, while many ethical breaches that are covered by laws and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley are increasingly controlled, the interpersonal misconduct that can create a negative work environment and lead to bigger ethical problems and turnover is on the rise.

Among the key findings:

n       Despite hotlines and other mechanisms introduced in recent years, employees who do not report misconduct fear retaliation and believe that their action will have no impact. Their fear is well founded: some 12 percent of employees who reported misconduct experienced retaliation.

n       Conflicts of interest, lying and abusive behavior pose the greatest ethics risk to companies, because these actions are most prevalent and least reported. 

n       While significant progress has been made on the compliance front – fulfilling legal obligations – few advances have occurred in creating ethical business cultures.

n       Yet, the survey found that companies with strong ethical cultures reduced their ethics risk by a very significant and measurable margin.

Download the NBES report by using the following link:  http://www.ethics.org/research/NBESOffers.asp or visit ERC’s home page at www.ethics.org.