Ethics
• Sample comprised of 347 randomly selected
HR professionals.
• Analyzing 347 responses of 2828 emails
sent, 2665 emails were received (response
rate = 15%).
• Survey fielded November 8 – November 14,
2005; presentation generated on November
16, 2005.
• Margin of error is +/- 4%
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Have you quit a job as an HR Professional for ethical
reasons?
90%
84%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
16%
10%
0%
Yes
No
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Have you quit a job as an HR Professional for ethical
reasons?
Choice
Count
Percentage
Answered
Yes
56
16.1%
No
291
83.9%
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Top five ethical reasons HR professional have/would
quit their job
Management lying to employees, customers,
vendors, shareholders, or the public
61%
Violations of Title VII (Discrimination )
50%
Lying on reports or falsifying records
48.20%
Violating the privacy of employees
Employees engaged in fraud
37.50%
33.90%
Based on respondents who indicated they have quit a job due to ethical reasons
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Ethical reasons HR Professionals
have/would quit a job
Management lying to employees, customers, vendors, shareholders, or the
public
77.5%
74.6%
Lying on reports or falsifying records
Mishandling employee 401(k) retirement accounts
73.3%
Misrepresenting company financial assets
63.9%
Violating the privacy of employees
63.3%
Violations of Title VII (Discrimination based on race, color, gender, age or
similar categories)
63.0%
Altering results of products/service testing
60.4%
Violating antitrust laws
58.0%
Sexual harassment
56.5%
Misusing the organization’s assets or proprietary information
56.2%
Employees accepting or giving bribes, kickbacks, or gifts that may conflict
with organizational responsibilities
54.1%
Percentage may not total 100% because multiple response were allowed N=338
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Reasons HR Professionals have/would quit a
job cont’d
Employees engage in fraud
54.1%
Misusing insider information
52.1%
Violating environmental laws or regulations
51.8%
Stealing/theft
50.9%
50.9%
Violations of the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)
46.4%
Violations of OSHA regulations
Violations of the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act)
44.7%
Improperly obtaining competitors’ proprietary information
44.1%
41.7%
Misreporting actual time or hours worked
Employees lying to supervisors
19.5%
Other
8.9%
Percentage may not total 100% because multiple response were allowed N=338
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Other
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Pressure to change religious beliefs to match employer beliefs
policy inconsistency and no employee accountability
personnel mistreatment
personal reasons
Owners adding family members to medical plan that did not work for the company; EEs
paying for medical coverage and Owner/Family Members getting medical free
Opportunity for growth
none of the above
No hope for change
Most should be dealt with by HR. I would quit if top management wasn't willing to
address the issues.
Most I would deal with, not quit
Mismanagement of employee records and poor employee management
Mgmt style issues
Manager asking to lie on his behalf
Management practices that were in conflict with personal core values
Management mistreating customers (insulting in public); (in another position)
management mistreating employees (discriminatory discipline, although not Title VII)
Management accepted harassment or intimidation of employees
Lack of support from Executive Team
Lack of respect for employees
Intentional violations of above
improper use of funds & poor employee treatment
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Other continued
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If I'm not able to correct an unethical problem
If asked to commit fraud or falsify documents I would work to have that person leave--potentially I would
leave a job for any of the above yet it depends on the intentionality and depth of issue.
I would report harassment or theft not quit a job if I observed it.
I would like to be clear that I would not tolerate my employer intentionally violating any law or ethical
standard. I do realize that "employees" may sometimes violate these circumstances and I would expect the
employer to deal with those situations.
I would leave for any of the above reasons if not resolved
I could have checked all the reasons listed if I understood them to be perpetrated by or sanctioned by
management. For violations of any of the above reasons by individual employees, I would work within the
internal system to rectify.
Hostile Work Environment
horrible, mean, toxic boss - very poor manager, mistreating people - went ahead against my personal values
Have quit senior position, when my boss asked me to lie about his participation in a "deal that went bad" currently making 25% of my previous salary and no longer have benefits
Handling of a layoff - several years ago
gender bias, and ignoring the importance of Hr
For many of the things I checked, I would only quit if I was forced to turn a blind eye or cover it up. I would
not quit over an employee engaging in fraud, since I'm able to address and deal with it. If I was asked to
cover it up, then I'd work elsewhere
Executives not fired but employees are for the same offense (e.g. sexual harassment); that is one of the
reasons I left an employer. There were different rules for executives. VP of HR was aware of the sexual
harassment but nothing happened.
Employers taking credit for employees' work
Disrespectful treatment of employees by management.
depends on how org handles the issue; if addressed and resolved appropriately, I wouldn't quit (applies to
all the violations)
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Other continued
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Depending upon the severity of the above, I think all could be a reason for terminating.
Deliberate continuation of any of the above activities after discovery.
compensation not based on background and experience and coworkers with less
adequate background paid the same.
bouncing a paycheck
Better Opportunities
Being asked to do something that goes against my integrity and honesty, period.
As an HR professional my job is to address all of the above
anything illegal or that I felt was unethical that the company would not correct or support
my efforts to correct
Any of the above, if I was unable to effect change.
Any mistreatment of employees that went above and beyond what you could discipline
and have the other management team members support
any known illegal or unethical practices, where corrective action is not taken immediately
and seriously.
All of the above, assuming you tried to correct the situation and there was willful
opposition. Your first duty would be to try to fix the situation not abandon it.
All of the above, although it would depend on the circumstances of the particular issue,
whether widespread (company policy or culture issue) or an individual case.
All of the above
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM
Other continued
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would leave if couldn't rectify any of the above situations
Violating Company Safety Policies and Practices
Upper management continuously conducting themselves unethically and/or illegally
despite pleas for ethical and legal practices from other managers.
Told by executive management to do something that was unlawful
This survey is odd - why would anyone continue working for an employer who engaged in
any of these activities?
This question is not well-worded. Are you asking whether I would quit because I did these
things or others did. And if others did, wouldn't it be my responsibility as an HR
professional to rectify the situation, rather than living with it or quitting?
These all the depend on the circumstances and gravity of situation as well as
management's role/approach to the situation; none of these would be reasons in sr
management condemns the actions and acts properly to fix the issues
The assumption is that I would leave an organization if any of the above issues were
known to the senior executive and nothing was done to correct and eliminate the
problem.
Some of these depend on the level of the person committing the offense - management
vs. line workers. If a line worker, could be handled through disciplinary process. If
management, there is a core issue that may not be able to be affected by HR, and I'd
probably none / I'm a single parent dependent on my income with nothing to fall back on
SHRM Weekly Online Survey: November 8, 2005
© 2005 SHRM