Do your employees think you're an ethical boss?
Half of government employees think their senior leaders are people of high ethical integrity, according to a new study of workplace ethics. About half also think senior management responds appropriately to reports of misconduct.
The study, conducted by Walker Information, an Indianapolis-based business research firm, surveyed 2,000 employees across the country, 13 percent of whom work for federal, state or local government. The study did not break down the employees by level of government.
Public employees are the most likely of any sector's workforce to say they know of an ethical or legal violation at work. Six in 10 public servants say they are aware of ethical problems in the workplace, compared with an average of 41 percent across all sectors.
Frank Walker, chairman of Walker Information, says employees who receive ethics training are more likely to spot breaches of the public trust.
"The government has done a pretty good job of telling workers about the importance of ethics and that there are guidelines available," Walker says. "As organizations tell their people what to look out for, they're going to have the reported ethical violations go up, at least for a time."
Sexual harassment and falsified records are the biggest ethical concerns for government workers, the survey found. Twenty-eight percent of public employees report being aware of those violations in their agencies. Meanwhile, conflicts of interest, lying to supervisors and discrimination are reported by about a quarter of public servants.
Less than one third of government respondents say they feel comfortable reporting misconduct, despite the numerous ways ethical violations can be reported, including anonymous tips to inspector general hotlines.
At the same time, 70 percent of government workers say their organizations are highly ethical, and they tend to rate their own ethical behavior above other employees' and above their senior managers' ethics.
"Everybody rates themselves as being highly ethical," Walker points out. "People rank themselves higher ethically than they rank other people."
Similarly, senior managers tend to rank their organizations' ethical records better than their subordinates do. For instance, 60 percent of senior managers say their employees feel comfortable reporting ethical problems, while just 32 percent of employees say the same thing.
Walker speculates that senior managers are involved in setting ethics policies and devote resources to ethics training, so they tend to think their organizations are doing a good job. But communication may be a key problem. Thirty-seven percent of employees don't feel their leaders get the word out about the importance of ethics and values.
Walker says managers need to make sure their organizations' images reflect good values because in a tight job market, employees become more discriminating in whom they work for. All other things being equal, a good employee will go to work for an organization with a strong ethical image over an organization with a more questionable record, Walker says.
"People who believe they fit with the culture of an organization are much more committed to making the organization successful," Walker says.
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