Reasons for Unethical Behavior in the Workplace
I’ve been writing about workplace ethics for many years. I’ve tackled issues such as organizational culture, governance, the evils of social media, bullying, sexual harassment, and whistleblowing, to mention a few. Yesterday, I was shocked to read about the steep decline in ethics in the workplace and its causes. This issue was addressed by Bruce Crumley and posted on Inc.com. In it, Crumley cautions about rising levels of unethical and even illegal employee activity, and that closer screening during the hiring process is necessary to weed out potentially dishonest workers.
A survey of 2,000 workers in the United Kingdom revealed some jaw-dropping attitudes about dishonest and disloyal behavior in the workplace—perceptions companies in other nations should also take note of.
Here are some of the results:
- One quarter of all respondents considered moonlighting for a direct competitorto their main employer was ethically acceptable.
- 13 percent of participants said they had “sold or [knew] someone who has sold company login details—often under the belief it’s harmless.”
- Fully 24 percent of respondents said they had knowledge of colleagues committing expense fraud during the previous year.
- 13 percent said they knew a coworker who had “used company funds to place a bet.”
- On average, 20 percent of respondents cited reasons justifying the five most common forms of workplace fraud. That included a whopping one-third of managers surveyed, and even more C-suite executives.
“These findings reflect a broader shift in workplace behaviors when faced with the opportunity to commit fraud,” said Cifas CEO Mike Halley. He points out that the unethical workplace behavior almost certainly isn’t limited to U.K. businesses. “These insights suggest a shift in workplace norms and raise urgent questions about organizational culture, risk management, and accountability.”
Additional evidence that the erosion in honesty is an international concern came from U.S. law firm Outten & Golden LLP. Its new survey of 1,000 American employees produced results indicating “workplace ethics are near an inflection point.” They addressed the views of employees and discovered the following:
- 22 percent of respondents had witnessed illegal or unprincipled acts on the job.
- 21 percent said they’d felt pressure to replicate examples of misconduct.
- 33 percent of participants said they stayed mum about such abuses out of fear from the consequences of reporting them
- “When one-third of American workers fear reporting misconduct, that’s not just a red flag—it’s a systemic failure,” said Tammy Marzigliano, partner and co-chair of Outten & Golden’s Whistleblower & Retaliation Practice. “If employees believe that speaking up at work comes with a personal cost, employers should be worried.”
Both Cifas and Outten & Golden say the only way for businesses to reverse the tide of weakening workplace ethics is to establish reporting systems that effectively address acts of fraud and misconduct—and protect anonymous employees who call them out. The problem here is that “Companies that fail to build cultures of trust and accountability are not only risking legal exposure—they are undermining their own long-term success.”
One suggestion to improve the situation and build a greater attention to ethics into the hiring process is to use an AI job screening process to identify potentially unethical job candidates. Of course, this is easier said than done. However, with the advent of more sophisticated AI-generated data, the time will come when establishing such a process, and it may be sooner than we think.
Building an ethical culture can be facilitated by an ethics audit. An ethics audit can help spot gaps between an organization’s stated values and real-world behavior across policies, people, and practices. Building an ethical culture means incorporating those values into everyday decisions, not just posting them on the wall.
I have observed that all-too-often companies only pay lip service to building an ethical organization culture. Top managers may say the right thing—even have a code of ethics—but they don’t walk the talk of ethics. It’s as if their message is to do what they say even though they, themselves, may be doing something else.
An underlying problem that needs to be addressed by top managers is “cognitive dissonance,” which is the disconnect between one’s thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change. I’ll close with sound advice from verywellmind.com.
- Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort you feel when your actions and beliefs don’t match.
- People deal with cognitive dissonance by trying to justify or rationalize their actions.
- Experiencing guilt or regret can be a sign of cognitive dissonance.
I’d like to think that workplace behavior will improve in the short run. However, it doesn’t seem likely to occur. There is so much unethical behavior in society, including government, politics, sports, entertainment and the like that we may have fallen down the ethical slippery slope and it will be difficult, at best, to reverse course and regain the high road.
Blog posted by Steven Mintz, PhD, professor emeritus from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, on May 14, 2026. Visit Steve’s website to find out more about his activities.