Ethical culture at work

As Warren Buffet once said, it is culture rather than the rule book that determines how an organisation behaves. Never has this been more apparent than in the past year when the pandemic compelled organisations to make difficult decisions quickly, often involving radical alterations to their operations. How this was done has been under considerable scrutiny. Saints and sinners hit the headlines as commentators praised those who behaved ethically and condemned those who did not.

Those with strong, ethical cultures, already accustomed to making decisions based on values and a desire to do the right thing, will have found this easier, and, as such, are likely to reap rewards once a more normal situation emerges. However, those with weaker ethical cultures may have resorted to unethical behaviour leading to possible reputational damage, poor employee morale and a loss of stakeholder trust.

Culture sets businesses apart by influencing decisionmaking that can make or break reputations. High-profile coverage for poor corporate behaviour, such as sacking workers for raising concerns about safety; failing to pay those on zero-hours contracts; fraudulently claiming against government support schemes and paying dividends while seeking a government loan, would lead many to conclude that business ethics have deteriorated during the pandemic.

However, the results of our latest survey on employee perceptions of workplace culture, conducted during the pandemic, shows the opposite. This report examines those findings, analysing how worker perception of the different aspects of workplace culture has changed since our last report and the factors behind this.

Read the pdf for more details