Workers feel pressure to act unethically
tom.pullar-strecker@stuff.co.nz
One in 10 New Zealand workers have felt some form of pressure to ‘‘compromise their organisation’s standards of ethical behaviour’’, according to a survey by the British-based Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) and Victoria University of Wellington.
Only 56 per cent of the 752 Kiwi respondents said their employer provided a means of reporting misconduct confidentially, compared with 64 per cent in Britain and 61 per cent in Australia.
The proportion of workers who had felt under pressure to bend ethics was lower in New Zealand than Australia, where the percentage was 13 per cent, and in Europe, where it was 16 per cent, IBE director Philippa Foster Back said.
But Victoria University Professor Karin Lasthuizen said it was nevertheless concerning.
‘‘Employees who have felt pressured to compromise ethical standards are more likely to have negative perceptions of the ability of managers to promote ethics at the workplace.’’
Of the 10 per cent who had felt pressure to behave unethically,
39 per cent said ‘‘time pressure’’ was a factor and 20 per cent said they had been asked to take ‘‘shortcuts’’.
But 29 per cent said they were ‘‘following orders’’ and 11 per cent – a total of eight of the overall
752 employees surveyed – said their organisation had an ‘‘unethical culture’’.
The research comes in the wake of a discussion document released by the State Services Commission that recommended reforms to the Protected Disclosures Act, which is designed to support whistleblowers.
The commission advised against introducing rewards for whistleblowers or providing protection to anonymous whistleblowers or those reporting ethics breaches to the media.
It also came out against specific penalties for employers who retaliated against whistleblowers, which would be separate to the processes employees could use to take personal grievance claims. Instead, the commission has suggested reforms that centre on providing whistleblowers with more information, encouraging employers to write good policies, and extending the range of organisations that whistleblowers could report their concerns to.
Twenty-nine per cent of New Zealand employees surveyed by the IBE and Victoria University of Wellington said their organisations had a comprehensive ethics programme, while 10 per said their organisation had none at all.