Forget lower morale, companies that plan on employing drastic cost-cutting strategies (layoffs, furloughs, pay/benefit cuts, etc.), should brace themselves for all-out misconduct problems as a result.
That’s what the 2009 National Business Ethics Survey revealed.
The survey compared companies that experienced cost-cutting tactics such as adjusted work schedules, layoffs, comp/benefit reductions, etc., with those that did not and found:
- 66% of employees that experienced comp/benefit reductions observed misconduct (compared to the 46% that didn’t)
- 63% of employees that experienced adjusted work schedules observed misconduct (compared to the 46% that didn’t)
- 62% of employees that experienced hiring freezes observed misconduct (compared to the 44% that didn’t), and
- 61% of employees that experienced layoffs observed misconduct (compared to the 47% that didn’t).
Of course, the word “misconduct” can mean a lot of things — and in this survey it does. Participants were asked about 27 specific behaviors, and “Yes” respondents said they observed at least one of the 27 behaviors within the previous year.
The complete survey can be found here.
Readers that have dealing with the cost-cutting tactics mentioned above, does this survey seem accurate? Has your company seem a bump in workplace misconduct? If so, share the behaviors you’ve seen in our Comments section.
