Corporate Ethics Plays an Important Role in Employee Engagement
By Jennifer Blanchard | HRTools.com Business Writer
A recent LRN Ethics Study on Employee Engagement discovered that 94 percent of employees surveyed said it’s “critical” (57 percent) or “important” (37 percent) that they work for an ethical company.
It’s so important, in fact, that 82 percent said they’d prefer to be paid less money and work for an ethical company, than be paid more and work for a company with questionable ethics.
When the economy is in shambles and the threat of going out of business is looming, some companies may turn to unethical practices in order to keep their business going. But this couldn’t be a worse idea.
The LRN study found that one in three employees has left a job for ethical reasons. Eighty percent said they left a job because they didn’t agree with the ethics of fellow employees, their supervisor or management.
Companies need to find ways to retain their best people during troubling times, and so being ethical is extremely important now more than ever. Ethics also affect a company’s ability to recruit employees.
The study also found that unethical behavior affects employee productivity in a big way:
- 63 percent of employees surveyed said they spent time talking about the unethical behavior on the job with colleagues;
- 50 percent said they were distracted by the unethical behavior, so work suffered;
- 33 percent said they spent time talking about the behavior with management or filed a formal complaint;
- Only 11 percent said the unethical behavior had no effect on them or their work.
When employees aren’t engaged in their work, productivity decreases and people start to go into a “corporate cocoon,” where they come in, do their work and go home, without much care or regard for it. These are not the types of employees you want working for you.
But in order for your company to retain the kinds of employees who will be productive and engaged, you need to make sure you comply with corporate ethics.
Here are some additional reasons for you to tighten your company’s ethics practices and focus on cultivating an ethical corporate culture:
- Doing the right thing is a reward in itself.
- An ethical corporate culture can help reduce turnover rates as well as help employees engage in their job, which directly affects the bottom line.
- Unethical behaviors distract employees and cause friction and dissonance, all of which get in the way of productivity, according to the LRN study.
Engage Employees Through Ethics Compliance
The LRN study also offered three ways that businesses can promote an ethical culture and engage their workforces:
- Practice What You Preach—“‘Tone at the top,’ is no longer enough,” according to the study. “What is important is how management’s actions reflect the company’s values and principles. The decisions, actions and behaviors of management speak volumes about the values a company places on ethical conduct.”
- Increase Your Employees’ Ethics IQ—“Education programs should teach employees about ethical, legal and compliance issues they may encounter in carrying out their responsibilities,” according to the study. “What is even more important is to help employees recognize potentially problematic situations, including those that may be outside the scope of common business scenarios.”
- Foster Ethics Throughout Your Organization—“It is essential to inspire employees to internalize ethical decision making,” according to the study. “This requires the development of an environment where employees are encouraged to talk openly about ethical dilemmas. Research performed by Penn State University, and funded by the ERC Fellows Program, has identified the most influential ethical role model in an organization as the individuals’ immediate supervisor.”
Ethical behavior can be the difference between keeping your best employees or losing them. Foster ethical behavior at your company and you’ll engage your employees, giving them a huge incentive to stay put.
<p>A recent LRN Ethics Study on Employee Engagement discovered that 94 percent of employees surveyed said it’s “critical” (57 percent) or “important” (37 percent) that they work for an ethical company.</p>
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