Survey Reveals Historic Rise in Employee Pressure and Retaliation in the Workplace amid the COVID Pandemic Plus more workplace trends in the 2021 Global Business Ethics Survey® Report.

The Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI), the standard conveyor for responsible ethics & compliance practice in the workplace, today released its Global Business Ethics Survey® (GBES®) report, The State of Ethics & Compliance in the Workplace: A Look at Global Trends. The report summarizes responses from a cross section of employees around the world, and examines the continued challenges in regards to workplace culture and ethical behavior in what was an unprecedented year for business. The report marks the 27th year of implementation of the study.

The report revealed a series of divergent trends, most notably the record 20-year high for employee pressure in the U.S. in contrast with what proved to be the highest percentages ever for reporting of misconduct. Additionally, retaliation for reporting reached a record high.

Another important trend was the percentage of employees who say they work in strong ethical cultures which has trended up over the last 20 years. Historically the GBES research has shown that culture is positively affected by the implementation of effective ethics & compliance programs. In strong cultures, pressure, misconduct and retaliation for reporting are significantly reduced.





“As we endure one of the most difficult periods in history, employees around the world are in need of attention,” said Dr. Patricia Harned, Chief Executive Officer of ECI. “While there is cause for optimism the enormity of this task cannot be overstated. The starting point is the creation and establishment of a sound ethics & compliance program, one which focuses on culture, which the research shows reduces the likelihood of wrongdoing.”

Highlights of the report’s core findings:

• Culture strength is among the highest it has been in the U.S. in over 20 years: Slightly more than one in five U.S. employees (21%) were in workplaces with a strong ethical culture, an indication that more organizations are implementing effective ethics & compliance programs. The global median for strong cultures was 14%.
• Employee pressure reaches the highest level since 2000: U.S. respondents indicated a sharp increase in employee pressure, indicating more employees are experiencing pressure to violate their organization’s ethics standards than in previous years. This is likely due, at least in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused significant organizational changes. ECI research has shown that periods of intense organizational change leads to increased pressure on employees to bend the rules. Employee pressure has also increased globally since ECI began surveying employees worldwide in 2015.
• The rate of observed misconduct has remained relatively steady over the past 20 years: Although the rate of observed misconduct in the U.S. increased very slightly since 2017, it had trended down since its peak in 2007. Global results indicate a slight increase since 2019 as well.
• Employee perceptions of retaliation after reporting misconduct escalates to record high: In the U.S., rates of retaliation have more than tripled since 2013; they have almost doubled globally since 2019.

The Global Business Ethics Survey was fielded from August to September 2020. Employees in 10 countries were surveyed with responses from 14,000 employees worldwide. To download your copy of the report, click here.