Reporting unethical act too risky

Professionals fear losing their jobs

Professionals in both the public and private sectors fear losing their jobs and being victimised for reporting unethical conduct in their workplaces.

This is according to the 2018 Anti-Intimidation and Ethical Practices Forum (AEPF) Ethical Practices Survey which was released this week. The survey found that 26% of professionals in the public sector and 17% in the private sector said they have been intimidated for doing the right thing and feared losing their jobs for doing so.

The survey also showed a decline in the percentage of respondents in both sectors who believe it is their personal duty to report unethical behaviour.

About 44% of respondents agree that their organisations encourage them to report unethical behaviour compared to 59% in 2017.

The annual survey serves as a quantitative tool to capture the perceptions of professionals regarding ethical practices in society, organisations and professional institutions. A total of 1 900 professionals participated in the survey. The research found that leaders in the public sector are perceived as a lot less ethical than those in the private sector. Only 10% of respondents in both the public and private sectors agreed that leaders in the public sector are ethical.

Other findings were:

Only 17% of respondents in

● the public sector agree that leaders in the private sector are ethical – a significant decline from the 60% in 2017; About 32% of respondents in

● the private sector agree that leaders in their sector are ethical, representing another sharp decline from 70% the previous year;

About 32% of those in the

● public sector agree that ethics are a priority in their organisations compared to 43% previously; and

Just 39% agree that their organisations

● encouraged employees to do the right thing compared to 63% in 2017. Chairperson of the AEPF, Claudelle von Eck, said leaders in both sectors have taken a substantial fall from grace but said there was heartening data from the survey.

The AEPF is a forum of professional bodies formed two years ago following the rising levels of corruption, fraud, ethics failures and lack of corporate governance in the country.