Compared to 2021, employees in Germany are more likely to have been aware of misconduct at work and have felt more pressure to compromise on their organisation’s standards of ethical conduct. Despite this increase, employees in Germany are among the least likely of the 16 surveyed countries to be aware of misconduct and feel pressure to compromise the organisation’s standards of ethical conduct. However, compared to 2021 and the 2024 global average, they are less likely to speak up about misconduct they have been aware of. In Germany, the most prominent deterrent to speak up cited is employees feeling it might alienate them from their colleagues.

Employees in Germany are more likely to be aware of their organisation providing four building blocks of an ethics programme than in 2021, with the most notable improvement relating to a confidential means of reporting misconduct. Compared to the 16 surveyed countries in 2024, they are among the least likely to be aware of their organisation providing these building blocks.

Compared to the average employee, they have a poorer view of their line manager’s commitment to ethics and about how their organisation engages with employees on ethics. However, they are of the view that their organisation acts responsibly towards external stakeholders.

Data for Germany were first collected in 2012 as indicated in the global report. The findings in this country-specific report compare 2024 data against 2021 data, the last data point.

 

Organisational culture

  • Employees in Germany are among the most likely of the 16 surveyed countries to find each of eight ethically questionable practices outlined on p9 of the global report to be acceptable. They are more likely than the global average to find each of the practices acceptable (22% vs 20% global average).
  • Around nine in ten employees in Germany say that honesty is practised always or frequently in their organisation (89%), remaining consistent with findings in 2021 (89%) but above the percentage of employees who say so globally in 2024 (84% global average). Only employees in India (91%) have a higher rating on this question.
  • Around one in eleven employees in Germany feel pressured to compromise their organisation's standards of ethical conduct (9%) - an increase on 2021 when around one in seventeen employees said so (6%). In 2024, 15% of employees globally said that they felt pressured. Employees in Germany are among the least likely to feel pressured to compromise their organisation's standards of behaviour, alongside those in the UK (9%) and the Netherlands (7%). Around a third of employees in Germany who have felt pressured to compromise on their organisation's standards of ethical conduct say that following their boss's orders (33%), time pressure/unrealistic deadlines (30%) and feeling peer pressure to be a team player (30%) are the main sources of pressure.
  • Around a fifth of employees in Germany reported being aware of conduct that they thought violated either the law or their organisation's ethical standards in the last year (18%). Employees in Germany and the UK (18%) reported the lowest figures of the 16 surveyed countries. The figure in 2024 (18%) is statistically higher than in 2021 (10%) but lower than the 2024 global average (25%).

Speaking up

  • Around half of the surveyed employees in Germany who were aware of misconduct spoke up about it with management, another appropriate person, or through any other mechanism (53%). This figure is similar to findings in 2021 (56%) but lower than the percentage of employees who say so globally (64% global average). Of the 16 surveyed countries, employees in Germany, Hong Kong (47%), and Japan (41%) are the least likely to raise their concerns about misconduct.
  • Of all those who were aware of misconduct but did not report a concern, over a third cited a fear of alienating themselves from their colleagues (38%) and lack of belief that corrective action would be taken (35%) as key deterrents to speaking up.
  • Of those reporting a concern, over half (53%) say that they experienced a form of personal disadvantage or retaliation as a result. This figure is similar to 2021 (50%) but above the 2024 global average (46%). Employees in Germany are among the most likely to experience retaliation after speaking up, alongside those in France (64%), and India (65%).
  • Around two-thirds of employees in Germany say they were satisfied with the outcome after raising concerns about misconduct (67%). This figure is higher than in 2021 (52%) but below the percentage of employees who say so globally in 2024 (71% global average).

The ethics programme

  • Employees in Germany are less likely than the 2024 global average to say that they are aware of their organisation providing four building blocks of an ethics programme. For example, 55% of employees in Germany are aware that their organisation has written standards of ethical business conduct, compared to a global average of 71%. They are among the least likely of the 16 surveyed countries to be aware of these building blocks.
  • However, compared to 2021, they are more likely to be aware of their organisation providing the building blocks. The biggest increases are the awareness of their organisation providing employees with a means of reporting misconduct confidentially (54% vs 44% in 2021) and receiving advice or having an information helpline about behaving ethically at work (36% vs 26% in 2021).

Embedding ethics through a supportive environment

 

  • In Germany, 67% of employees (vs 72% global average) agree that their line manager sets a good example of ethical business behaviour, 79% (vs 68% global average) agree that their line manager explains the importance of honesty and ethics in the work they do and 65% (vs 72% global average) agree that their line manager supports them in following their organisation’s standards of ethical behaviour. While 67% (vs 71% global average) agree that senior management takes ethics seriously in their organisation, 32% (vs 38% global average) of them also agree that their line manager rewards employees who get good results, even if they use practices that are ethically questionable.
  • 76% of employees in Germany (vs 76% global average) agree that their organisation acts responsibly in all its business dealings and 74% (vs 72% global average) that it lives up to its stated policy of social responsibility.
  • Employees in Germany are likely to have a poorer view of how their organisation engages with employees on ethics. They are less likely than average to agree that people in their organisation know what is expected of them in terms of ethical behaviour (74% vs 77% global average), that in their organisation decisions about people are made fairly (61% vs 67% global average) and that issues of right and wrong are discussed in staff meetings (58% vs 62% global average).
  • 63% of employees in Germany agree that their organisation disciplines employees who violate its ethical standards. A similar percentage of employees agree globally (65% global average).