How to Spot and Avoid Unethical Behaviors in the Workplace
HRDQ StaffA healthy workplace begins when you find these problems and put a stop to the behaviors that cross the line. You'll want to catch these problems before they can hurt your team or the whole company. The goal is for you to learn what signs to look for.
People acting poorly at work cost businesses billions of dollars every year. I'm going to tell you about five red flags that show someone might be doing something wrong at work. I'll also share some easy ways for you to manage these problems when you see them and some ways to make sure people take responsibility for their actions.
When you catch these problem behaviors early, you can save people's jobs and keep your company's culture in good shape. You might think that following the rules at work is basic common sense. But the workplace has become pretty tough, and sometimes, it's hard to distinguish right from wrong.
Let's get started by looking at those small mistakes that can slowly break down the trust and honesty in your workplace over time.
- Tailored ethics training solutions
- Enhance team communication skills
- Promote ethical workplace culture
Table of Contents
Find Common Unethical Workplace Behaviors
Unethical behavior pops up in all sorts of ways at your workplace. You might catch your co-workers taking company items for their own personal use – this happens when they grab supplies to take home or when they use the work computers to manage their own personal things. Some people even drive the company car around on the weekends for their own personal errands. Harassment is a problem, too. You'll see it when people make mean and inappropriate comments or jokes about how someone looks.
Co-workers might spread nasty gossip about people they just don't get along with. In some bad cases, bosses might even recommend that a promotion depend on going out with them or doing personal favors. Some workers take small items like pens and notepads. Other people put in fake expense reports or add extra miles when they claim their travel costs. There have even been cases where employees have come up with elaborate plans to take thousands of dollars from the company over long periods of time.
When lying happens, it makes the workplace feel awful for everyone. People will say they finished work that they never even started. You'll see managers taking credit for ideas that actually came from their team. Some workers lie about what they can actually do or try to hide their mistakes instead of just admitting to them.
These bad and unethical behaviors usually start out small and then get bigger over time. Your company's response and strategy to these things make a giant difference in how common these problems become. You might feel like it's okay to take things if you see the higher-ups wasting money left and right. People like to copy what they see others get away with.
You should watch out for warning signs (like supplies that are going missing with no explanation). You might see how some co-workers get nervous when topics come up in conversation. There could be lots of people quitting in departments. Sometimes, you'll see the same person or team receiving complaints over and over again.
Money problems often show that something's not right with ethics. The expense reports might not match up with what was actually needed for business. You might find these weird and questionable purchases at strange times on company credit cards. The budget could be coming up short without any clear reason as to why.
When you have personal integrity as your base, a good ethical policy helps to make sure everyone in the company follows the same fair practices.
How Ethical Policies Can Help
They're like a map that shows what your company expects and helps guide you to make better decisions at work. When your company has clear ethics rules, it helps everything run smoother. These guidelines spell out what your company believes in and cares about the most. You can use them to check if what you're doing matches what your company stands for.
Because everyone knows the same rules, there's less head-scratching about how you should act. When you have good ethics policies, they offer real benefits to your business, too. Businesses with strong ethics usually have a better public reputation and more loyal customers. You'll probably see that people stay at their jobs longer and feel better about coming to work.
Some research even shows that these businesses eventually make more money over time. On the legal side, when you have clear ethics policies, it can give your company some protection. They help you stay away from breaking laws without meaning to. If something goes wrong, having these policies might mean smaller penalties. Courts tend to be more lenient with businesses that have tried to stop problems before they happened.
Your bosses need to follow the same rules they expect you to follow to show everyone how to behave. Regular training helps ensure you're aware of what these policies mean in real situations at work. Keeping these policies up-to-date makes sure they still make sense as things change in the workplace.
Ethics guidelines should give you ways to report problems you see. You need safe channels to speak up when something doesn't seem right. Without protection for those who report wrongdoing, problems would just stay hidden and probably get worse. Ethics policies build trust between you and your managers.
When discussions about ethics become a normal part of work and not something that makes everyone uncomfortable, it can help strengthen positive practices. Strong ethics systems might catch problems early.
But nothing makes positive practices stronger than when we talk honestly with each other about doing the right thing - which brings me to my next point:
Open Communication
Open communication helps you catch unethical actions before they become big problems. When your team members feel free to talk, they'll point out problems early on, and small problems get fixed instead of turning into serious ones. People don't speak up about bad behavior because they're worried they might get in trouble. When you create a safe place where people can talk honestly, it takes effort from everyone in your company.
Managers should make it clear that they want people to speak up and they can show this by giving positive feedback when someone brings up a concern. Your team needs to know that they won't be punished for pointing out when something isn't right.
Anonymous reporting systems are for sensitive problems – these let your employees report issues without having to give their name. Studies have shown that more than half of whistleblowing reports come from people who stay anonymous. Even though reports with names attached are more likely to be confirmed, anonymous tips can still help discover problems.
Leaders who show they care make a giant difference in keeping your workplace ethical. When your bosses care about their teams, trust builds up naturally, and people feel more comfortable sharing their problems with leaders who are involved and interested. This involvement helps create a more ethical work environment.
When communication falls apart, ethical problems usually follow. If information doesn't get passed along, people start to make assumptions that can turn into bigger problems. When you have clear ways to talk to each other, you can stop these issues before they start. When you're open about information, it builds trust throughout your company. When your leaders share details, employees feel like they matter and this feeling of respect makes people more likely to follow ethical rules.
Businesses that have clear policies see much less unethical behavior. Regular team catch-ups help you find these problems early. Team meetings give everyone a chance to talk about ethical questions together and one-on-one conversations give people space to bring up things they might not feel comfortable sharing in front of everyone. Different ways of talking work better for different types of situations.
Strong communication and clear rules build the foundation for trust, and you'll see how good leaders bring these ethical standards to life every day.
Role of Leadership in Ethical Culture
Leadership shapes how ethical a workplace feels. When your boss is honest and fair, you'll probably start acting that way, too. Their actions can make the biggest difference. When leaders are late but then get mad at you for doing the same thing, they send you mixed signals. Good leaders say, "I messed up," when they make mistakes and show you how to fix things instead of trying to cover up the problems.
The leaders in your company should actually follow the values that they tell you about. You've likely seen that the managers you respect the most are the ones who follow what they believe in, even when it's tough. Take Paul Polman at Unilever as a great example. He made sustainability a part of the business strategy instead of just talking about it to look good. His workers could tell that he believed in what he was doing, which made them want to get behind it, too.
Your employees watch what you do very closely. They see who gets moved up, what kind of behavior gets appreciated, and how the company deals with rule-breaking. Your team will find out faster if ethics only matter when everything is going well.
If leaders take shortcuts, their teams will start doing the same thing before long. The price can be huge – your reputation might get damaged, you could face legal problems, and your best employees might leave. One leader making poor choices can destroy trust that took years to build.
Most people want to work somewhere they can feel good about. Leaders who are firm and steady with ethics create workplaces where people feel safe and respected – this kind of setting helps everyone feel better about their work. The hardest part for leaders is staying true to their values when things get stressful. When you endure tough times and tight deadlines, it's tempting to take ethical shortcuts. The best leaders find ways to meet their goals without lowering their standards.
Leadership lays the foundation. When you start with strong leadership, we can see how online watchdogs step in to catch mistakes that might otherwise slip through the cracks.
Technology to Detect Misconduct
Businesses use fancy tech to catch people doing bad things at work nowadays. They're putting AI and data tools to work to find patterns that might show fraud. These tools can look through thousands of messages in just minutes, and they can pick up on weird words or phrases that might suggest someone is doing something they shouldn't. You'll also find automated systems keeping an eye on financial things all day and night.
They can find these strange purchases or money moving at weird times. When something looks off, your managers get alerts, and you can catch issues before they become serious.
Another tool is tracking how people use their computers. These systems get to know how you and your co-workers usually work on your machines. They can tell when someone starts downloading tons of files or looks at information they don't need for their job, and this helps keep company secrets and customer information safe from being stolen.
Camera systems have become a lot better as well. The newer ones can detect when people go into areas they shouldn't or take things that don't belong to them. You don't need people staring at screens all day anymore.
The software simply points out things that don't look right. But using too much tech has its own set of problems. Your team might feel like they're being watched all of the time, which could harm trust and make everyone feel less comfortable at work. You need to find a good balance between security and privacy.
Most businesses are now mixing tech tools with ways to report things without giving their names. This can give your workers safe ways to speak up when they see something wrong. When you have computers and people keeping an eye on things, it works way better than just using one. Some of these tracking systems have shown problems with bias, though.
At one big company, an AI tool for hiring was unfairly rejecting women who applied, which shows why you still need people making judgments when looking for workplace problems. Your company should be clear about what it's watching and why it's doing it. When you have easy-to-understand rules, it helps everyone find what's okay and what isn't.
Most of your workers won't mind basic security measures - as long as they know what the rules are.
Nurture an Ethical Culture
I've seen that businesses with good ethics generally manage problems better because their teams trust each other enough to work on fixing issues instead of playing office politics. People don't know that having clear ethical standards can actually make decisions easier, not harder.
Your own personal options are a big part of keeping a workplace ethical. You make tons of decisions every day that either help or hurt the ethical feel of your workplace. Even little things like making sure your co-workers get credit for their ideas or speaking up when something doesn't seem right can help. If you think about the last time you saw someone stand up for what was right, you probably noticed how it changed the way others acted, too. These small moments might spread out in ways you don't even see.
The best ethical workplaces have clear rules - and room for your own judgment. Guidelines give you the structure you need. But they might not cover every single situation you run into at work. That's why building your ability to make thoughtful, ethical decisions matters just as much as learning what the policy handbook says. If you've been in a situation where you weren't sure what the right thing was, those tough moments test your character and can actually strengthen your workplace culture more than any written rule ever could.
With these building blocks for making ethical decisions, we at HRDQ know that teams sometimes need extra help working through these challenges. Our Ethics in the Workplace training program can give your team tools to identify these issues and have productive conversations about ethical choices. With easy-to-follow content and activities you can use, your employees can practice working through real situations together!
The goal is for your employees to get on the same page about how your values show up in day-to-day actions. Your workplace will almost certainly work much better if everyone agrees on what ethical behavior looks like on a daily basis.
Request a free preview of Ethics in the Workplace to see how it can meet help organizations implement ethics guidelines and policies.
