New LRN Research: Gen Z Employees Twice as Likely to Bend the Rules or Engage in Workplace Misconduct
13 Mayo 2024 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Latest Benchmark of Ethical Culture Report
finds that top barrier to reporting misconduct is lack of trust in
organizational justice systems
A new report by LRN Corporation, the leader in ethics and
compliance (E&C) solutions that enable organizations to inspire
principled performance, has found that nearly a quarter (23%) of
employees around the world agreed that “it is OK to break the rules
if needed to get the job done,” and 14% said they had actually
themselves “engaged in behavior that violated their company’s Code
of Conduct or standards” in the past year.
Further, 22% of Gen Z respondents said they engaged in unethical
conduct in the past year in the workplace, compared with just 9% of
Boomers. The results suggest an inverse trend between this mindset
and age, with Gen Z 2.5x more likely to agree with breaking the
rules than Boomers.
The findings are included in LRN’s latest Benchmark of Ethical
Culture Report, which is based on a comprehensive survey of more
than 8,500 employees at major organizations and corporations in 15
different countries, and from 13 different industries. The research
found that companies with strong ethical cultures have lower rates
of observed misconduct and report their observation at a rate 1.5x
higher than those in companies with weak cultures (93% compared to
63%). As companies can only address that which they are aware of,
this higher level of reporting represents a significant reduction
in risk.
Globally, one-third (33%) of respondents said they had observed
misconduct or unethical behavior in the past year, with harassment,
discrimination, conflicts of interest, and employee health and
safety violations cited most frequently. Of those, one-fifth (21%)
didn’t report their observation because they didn’t think their
company would do anything about their concern (36%) or handle it
effectively (30%), or because they feared retaliation (36%). These
trends overwhelmingly signal a lack of trust in the system of
procedural justice within the organization.
The research also probed employees’ perceptions of Artificial
Intelligence and its place in work and on careers. While a slight
majority believe AI will have a positive impact, employees who view
their companies as adaptive and resilient are nearly 2x more
receptive to the potential benefits of Artificial Intelligence on
their workplace and career opportunities.
It is generally accepted that culture impacts business results;
LRN’s research quantifies that relationship. Companies with strong
ethical cultures outperform, by an average of ~50% percentage
points more than companies with weak ethical cultures, on a variety
of traditional business metrics including customer satisfaction,
employee loyalty, competitiveness, innovation, and adaptability.
Not only is this gap significant in its size, it represents a
meaningful increase from similar research conducted in 2021, which
identified a 30%-point performance gap. The performance gap is most
pronounced when it comes to a company’s ability to adapt quickly to
internal and external change (a critical determinant of
resilience): the adaptability of companies with strong ethical
cultures is rated 2.6x higher than those from weak ethical
cultures. These companies also outperform on business results and
innovation at a rate 2.3x and 2.2x higher.
Other notable findings from the report include:
- A large majority (79%) of employees who observed misconduct
reported their observation, with most raising their concern to
either their direct manager or another manager in the company (77%
combined)
- Of all ethical culture measures, psychological safety was the
greatest predictor of whether employees would report misconduct
they had observed
- Executive and senior leaders are 2.6x more likely to indicate
their company has a strong ethical culture than individual
contributors and front-line employees, illustrating a stark
leadership disconnect with the realities on the ground
- Hybrid employees have more positive perceptions of their
company’s ethical culture than their fully in-office peers; they
also observe misconduct at a lower rate, and report their
observations at a higher rate
- A company’s ethical culture explained a significant proportion
(41%) of the variation in an employees’ willingness to stay at
their organization, outside of other factors such as compensation,
title, or job responsibilities
About LRN Corporation
LRN's mission and purpose is to inspire principled performance
and help people around the world do the right thing. Since 1994,
LRN has worked to propel organizations forward with the
partnership, knowledge, and solutions to build ethical culture.
Learn more at LRN.com and follow on Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240513291208/en/
Charlotte Hole, Gabriel Oben, Jamie Rollo or Catherine Oswalt,
Infinite Global (for LRN) LRN@infiniteglobal.com