Posted on June 26, 2008 9:15 AM by
Shanti Atkins
SHRM and the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) just released The Ethics Landscape in American Business Survey Report (membership required). The most interesting component, in my opinion, is the list of most commonly observed misconduct in the workplace. For fifty-seven percent of HR professionals, abusive or intimidating behavior toward employees (excluding sexual harassment) tops the list.
While we’ve seen this issue percolating for years (check out Workplace Bullying, which has an extensive amount of information and resources on the subject), this is the first time I’ve seen bullying tied to a survey on ethics.
And workplace bullying is about more than just soft costs (like low productivity and employee engagement) – it’s now becoming a real liability issue as well, with the case law building. For example, this past April, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a $325,000 verdict against a cardiovascular surgeon accused of being a workplace bully. The case is considered groundbreaking because it categorically supports the contention that there is a legal basis for workplace bullying claims. And then there’s the 2005 9th Circuit decision that holds that bullying behavior can have a more severe impact on women than it does on men, because women are likely to be more intimidated due to factors such as size and power inequities. (See EEOC v. National Education Association, 442 F.3d 840, 846-47 (9th Cir. 2005).) So workplace bullying can also support gender discrimination claims.
All of this should be a reminder that your workplace policies need to address the issue of bullying head on – and it should be a clear component of both harassment prevention and ethics training programs.
The SHRM / ERC study’s list of most commonly observed workplace misconduct also serves as a reminder that the bulk of employers’ ethics concerns are really “bread-and-butter” HR / employment law issues:
- E-mail and/or Internet abuse.
- Misreporting actual time or hours worked. (Is this any wonder given the shocking surge in wage and hour litigation over the past few years?)
- Behavior that places an employee’s interest over the organization’s interests.
- Employees calling in sick when they are not.
It’s been more than six years since SOX became law, and almost as long since the Federal Sentencing Guidelines were amended to require Code of Conduct adoption, as well as companion ethics and compliance training programs. Many employers are on their second, if not third round of Code and ethics training. Now’s the time to make sure that your training is fresh and updated. Evaluate the topics you’ve already covered, and identify the gaps you want to fill during your next retraining cycle. And by all means, consider topics that you may not think of as “classic” ethics issues. Just look at the key concerns identified by the SHRM / ERC study. While your training program may dedicate significant time to issues like preventing bribes, financial irregularities and potential antitrust violations, these are not the most common ethical missteps taking place at your organization.
It’s all about finding the right balance.