Companies Cut Costs, Employees Cut Ethical Corners

Do enterprise cost reduction efforts cause ethical misconduct among employees?

This question poses a potentially troubling connection … and a new survey report provides a dispiriting answer: quite possibly.

The report is an addendum to the 2009 Ethics Resource Center’s recent update to its ongoing National Business Ethics Survey, which I blogged about here.

Here’s the jarring introduction to this research brief:

“In order to address changing needs and to weather financial struggles, companies often have to make difficult decisions that impact employees’ lives at — and outside of — work.

“Companies use a variety of tactics (adjusted work schedules, layoffs, reductions in compensation and/or benefits, hiring freezes, early buyouts, production slowdowns, and plant closures). Research conducted as a part of the 2009 National Business Ethics Survey reveals that all of these tactics are related to significant increases in the number of employees observing misconduct.”

The five-page brief offers five findings and five related take-aways based on an analysis of responses to the Business Ethics Survey data. (more…)