Business ethics start at the top

Creating an ethical workplace culture

Vittee believes it starts at the top: "Leaders who value justice and fairness can have a positive impact on the practice of ethical behaviour and serve as role models for others to aspire to within the company. Systems and procedures should be implemented within the business in order to put virtuous values into practice.

"Companies can dramatically improve their integrity by implementing effective ethics and compliance programmes to reduce employee misconduct and improve every key measure of workplace behaviour."

Drawing on data from the Ethics Research Centre's (ERC) recent National Business Ethics Survey, the study also credits effective programmes and strong ethics cultures for making it more likely that employees will report wrongdoing when they see it. Nearly nine out of 10 employees, 87%, who observe violations at large companies with effective programmes report those violations, compared to just 32% who report wrongdoing when programmes are lacking.

Vittee said: "This is significant because reporting is essential for identifying and eliminating potential ethical risk."

For both large and small companies, the survey provides a snapshot of trends in workplace ethics and states that the percentage of companies providing ethics training rose from 74% to 81% between 2011 and 2013. Two-thirds of companies (67%) included ethical conduct as a performance measure in employee evaluations, up from 60 % in 2011. Almost three out of four companies (74%) communicated internally about disciplinary actions when wrongdoing occurs.

Five key steps to creating and maintaining an ethical environment: