Employees in the UK are as likely as in 2021 and the global average employee to say that honesty is practised always or frequently in their organisation. They are among the least likely of the 16 surveyed countries to feel pressured to compromise their organisation’s standards of ethical conduct and the least likely to say that they have been aware of misconduct at work.

Compared to 2021, employees in the UK are more likely to speak up about misconduct they have been aware of in the last year at work. Of the 16 surveyed countries, they are the least likely to experience retaliation after speaking up, although they are also among the least likely to be satisfied with the outcome after speaking up.

Compared to 2021 and the global average, employees in the UK are more likely to say that they are aware of their organisation providing each of four building blocks of an ethics programme, particularly concerning awareness of their organisation providing a means of reporting misconduct confidentially and awareness of their organisation providing training on standards of ethical conduct.

Compared to the global average, they generally have a poorer view of their line manager’s commitment to ethics and their organisation’s engagement with internal and external stakeholders.

Data for the UK were first collected in 2005 and the global report compares data from 2021. The findings in this country-specific report compare 2024 data against 2021 data, the last data point.

 

Organisational culture

  • Around four in five employees in the UK say that honesty is practised always or frequently in their organisation (83%), which is similar to findings in 2021 (86%) and the global average (84%).
  • Around one in ten employees in the UK say that they feel pressured to compromise on ethical standards of behaviour (9%), similar to 2021 (10%) but lower than the global average (15%). Employees in the UK are among the least likely to feel pressured to compromise their organisation’s standards of behaviour, alongside those in Germany (9%) and the Netherlands (7%). Around a third of employees in the UK who have felt pressured to act unethically at work say that time pressure / unrealistic deadlines (35%) were the main sources of pressure.
  • Around a fifth of employees in the UK reported being aware of conduct that they thought violated either the law or their organisation’s ethical standards in the last year (18%). The 2024 figure is not statistically higher than in 2021 (17%) but is lower than the 2024 global average (25%). Employees in the UK and Germany (18%) are the least likely to report being aware of misconduct at work.

Speaking up

  • Nearly two-thirds of employees in the UK who were aware of misconduct in the last year at work spoke up about it with management, another appropriate person, or through any other mechanism (63%). This figure is higher than in 2021 (55%) but similar to the percentage of employees who say so globally (64% global average).
  • Of all those who did not report a concern, around two in five of them cited a lack of belief that corrective action would be taken (42%) and fear of jeopardising their job (40%) as the key deterrents to speaking up.
  • Of those reporting a concern, nearly a third (29%) say that they experienced a form of personal disadvantage or retaliation as a result. This figure is significantly lower than in 2021 (45%) and the 2024 global average - where nearly half said so (46%). Employees in the UK are the least likely to say that they experienced retaliation after speaking up.
  • Around half of employees in the UK say they were satisfied with the outcome after raising concerns about misconduct (54%). This figure is lower than in 2021 (65%) and the percentage of employees who say so globally in 2024 (71% global average). Employees in the UK are among the least likely to be satisfied, alongside those in Italy (53%), France (52%) and New Zealand (49%).

The ethics programme

  • Employees in the UK are more likely than the global average to say that they are aware of their organisation providing each of four building blocks of an ethics programme. For example, 74% of employees the UK are aware of their organisation providing written standards of ethical business conduct that provide guidelines for their job, compared to a global average of 71%.
  • Compared to 2021, employees in the UK are also more likely to be aware of their organisation providing each of building blocks. The biggest increase has been recorded in relation to awareness of their organisation providing a confidential means of reporting misconduct (67% vs 62% in 2021), and awareness of their organisation providing training on standards of ethical conduct (63% vs 58% in 2021).

Embedding ethics through a supportive environment

  • In the UK, 72% of employees in the UK (vs 72% global average) agree that their line manager sets a good example of ethical business behaviour, 58% (vs 68% global average) agree that their line manager explains the importance of honesty and ethics in the work they do  and 69% (vs 72% global average) agree that their line manager supports them in following their organisation’s standards of ethical behaviour. While 66% (vs 71% global average) agree that senior management takes ethics seriously in their organisation, 26% (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.
  • 73% of employees in the UK (vs 76% global average) agree that their organisation acts responsibly in all its business dealings and 67% (vs 72% global average) that it lives up to its stated policy of social responsibility.
  • Employees in the UK are also likely to have mixed views about how their organisation engages with employees on ethics. They are more likely than the global average to agree that people in their organisation know what is expected of them in terms of ethical behaviour (80% vs 77% global average). However, they are less likely than the global average to agree that in their organisation decisions about people are made fairly (65% vs 67% global average) and that issues of right and wrong are discussed in staff meetings (53% vs 62% global average).
  • 61% of employees in the UK agree that their organisation disciplines employees who violate its ethical standards. A similar percentage of employees agree globally (65% global average).