Ethics at Work: 2018 Survey of Employees

TYPE:RESEARCH

CATEGORY: WORKPLACE ETHICS 

PUBLISHED: NOV 2018

Ethics at Work: 2018 Survey of Employees

Ethics at Work is the first national survey of Australian workers, probing nearly 800 Australians about their attitude to ethics in the workplace.

The survey, undertaken by the Institute of Business Ethics in partnership with our team at The Ethics Centre, asks what are employees’ attitudes to and perceptions of ethics in their place of work? Do they feel able to speak up if they have been aware of misconduct? Are formal ethics programs effective in embedding ethical values into organisational culture and influencing behaviour? What are the challenges and what should be the focus going forward?

This report forms part of a broader collection of publications covering parts of Europe, the UK, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand which aim to develop an understanding of employees’ attitudes to, and perceptions of, ethics in the workplace. The Ethics Centre is proud to be the first national partner to glean valuable insights into the Australian experience, and how we compare with other countries around the globe.

"At The Ethics Centre, we believe that employees’ views are a key indicator of the ethical temperature of any organisation. These results reveal that many Australians don’t trust that the current systems for speaking up against unethical behaviour are there to support them, and are choosing to stay quiet or compromise their own values."

JOHN NEIL, HEAD OF INNOVATION, THE ETHICS CENTRE

OVERVIEW

24%
OF WORKERS WERE AWARE OF MISCONDUCT IN THE PAST YEAR
35%
OF THOSE AWARE, DID NOT SPEAK UP
32%
THOUGHT SPEAKING UP COULD JEOPARDISE THEIR JOB
13%
HAVE FELT PRESSURED TO COMPROMISE ETHICS

WHATS INSIDE?

Key findings
Survey themes
Spotlight issues
Areas for focus and change

AUTHORS

Authors

Guendalina Dondé

Guendalina Dondé is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Business Ethics. She writes and researches on a range of business ethics topics for the IBE. Before joining the IBE, she collaborated in developing the code of ethics for the Italian Association of Management Consultants and worked for a European CSR Business Network in Brussels. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Ethics and CSR from the University of Trento in Italy.

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