Creating a Culture of Accountability by Michael Josephson: Good ...

by Michael Josephson on February 13, 2012

A company with an ethical culture actively encourages employees to be accountable and report what they reasonably believe to be illegal or unethical behavior. In an ethical culture all employees feel responsible to take reasonable actions to prevent or report misconduct and to protect the workforce, customers and the public from improper actions done by or on behalf of the company. To create and sustain that culture, the company must create a ?culture of accountability.?

In addition to explicitly training managers to permit and encourage open dialogue, including the reporting of perceived misconduct, performance review and HR?disciplinary?practices must assure that employees are protected from any form of retaliation. This obligation includes but goes beyond complying with anti-retaliation and whistle blower protection laws.

In order to encourage employees to be more accountable in reporting misconduct, and also to protect them if they assert a claim against their employer for misconduct, both federal and state laws make it illegal to retaliate against the employee. Thus, the employer is liable for any ?adverse action? taken by the company against the employee as a result of the protected conduct (often called whistle blowing, though the range of protected conduct is more extensive than that term implies). Some employees who report misconduct (or what they perceive to be misconduct) also receive hostile reactions from co-workers not necessarily sanctioned by the employer.

According to The 2011 National Business Ethics Survey? by the Ethics Resource Center, released in January 2012, the most common forms of retaliation reported by employees who said the reported misconduct were:

• Being excluded from decisions and work activity by management
• Receiving a cold shoulder by other employees
• Verbal abuse by someone in management

A smaller but significant percentage experienced

• Threats of possible job loss
• Denial of promotions or raises
• Verbal abuse by other employees
• Hours or pay cut
• Relocated or reassigned
• Demoted

Tagged as: accountability, Ethical Culture, retaliation, whistle-blowers

Source: http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/2012/02/creating-a-culture-of-accountability-by-michael-josephson-good-companies-encourage-employee-reporting-and-protect-them-from-all-forms-of-retaliation/

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