Recent Study on Ethics and HR

HR practitioners are asked to wear many hats while on (and sometimes off) duty. Recently, a joint study of approximately 3,000 HR professionals was conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Ethics Resource Center concerning the role of HR in supporting ethical behavior in their workplaces.

On the plus side for HR professionals:
• 83% indicated the HR department was their organization’s primary resource for ethics-related information, while
• 71% said HR was involved in creating their organization’s ethics policy

Now, for your consideration:
• 57% indicated that ethics played no part in employee evaluations
• 50% had no means of seeking ethics advice
• 23% said their companies did not offer a comprehensive ethics program
• 19% said that, as HR professionals, they felt pressure from senior managers, managers and co-workers to compromise their ethical standards.

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK (please post your answers here):
1. Would you like to see any of these numbers changed? If so, why? If not, why not?
2. If these numbers represented your workplace and you could change one – but only one – thing, what specific action would you take?
Sources: SHRM, The Ethics Center, bnet.com
See also: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/61398/qzrwx