Ethics at Work Index: 81.2

The vast majority of employees in New Zealand are confident that honesty is practised always or frequently in their organisation and the percentage of those who have been aware of misconduct at work has decreased compared to 2018. 

However, organisations in New Zealand seem to have missed some opportunities to encourage dialogue and discussions around ethics internally. For instance, respondents in New Zealand are less likely than average to say that their line manager explains the importance of honesty and ethics in the work they do. A greater focus on providing formal ways in which employees can obtain advice or information about behaving ethically at work, which currently is the least common of the four building blocks of an ethics programme considered, could be one way of addressing these issues. Looking ahead, discrimination or bias in the workplace is the issue that employees in New Zealand are more likely to be concerned about. 

 

Organisational culture

  • In 2021, 88% of employees in New Zealand say that honesty is practised always or frequently in their organisation, which is a slight improvement compared to 2018 (86%). Among all countries surveyed, they are more likely to say so, together with Switzerland (91%), and France and Germany (both at 89%).
  • The percentage of employees who have felt pressured to compromise their organisation’s standards of behaviour has not changed in New Zealand compared to 2018 (10%). The main source of pressure for employees in New Zealand is due to time pressures/unrealistic deadlines (45%), followed by the fact that they were under-resourced (32%).
  • Employees in New Zealand are less likely to say that they have been aware of misconduct at work compared to 2018 (16% vs 26%). The global average in 2021 is 18%.

Speaking Up

  • In New Zealand, 61% of employees that have been aware of misconduct at work have spoken up about it with management, another appropriate person, or through any other mechanism. This makes New Zealand one of the countries with the highest percentage of employees who say so, alongside the US (76%), South Africa (67%) and Australia (63%). However, this figure for New Zealand has decreased compared to 2018 (-4 pp).
  • The main reasons why employees do not raise their concerns are that they felt they might jeopardise their job and that they did not believe that corrective action would be taken (both at 31%). 
  • 41% of employees in New Zealand who have raised their concerns about misconduct they have been aware of, report experiencing retaliation as a result.
  • 58% of employees in New Zealand who have spoken up about the misconduct they have been aware of are satisfied with the outcome, which is higher than in 2018 (55%). The global average in 2021 is 62%.

The ethics programme

 

  • In terms of the four building blocks of an ethics programme considered, employees in New Zealand are significantly more likely than average to say that they are aware of written standards of ethical business conduct and ethics training. For example, 71% of them are aware of written standards of ethical business conduct in their organisation, compared to a global average of 67%. 
  • They are also more likely to be aware of three of the four building blocks of an ethics programme compared to 2018. The only exception is the provision of advice or an information helpline to get advice about behaving ethically at work, which decreased from 51% in 2018 to 49% in 2021.

Embedding ethics through a supportive environment

  • In New Zealand, 72% of employees say that their line manager sets a good example of ethical business behaviour (71% global average), 61% say that their line manager explains the importance of honesty and ethics in the work they do (65% global average), 71% say that their line manager supports them in following their organisation’s standards of ethical behaviour (68% global average), and 73% say that senior management takes ethics seriously in their organisation (70% global average). 29% of them also say that their line manager rewards employees who get good results, even if they use practices that are ethically questionable (32% global average).
  • Employees in New Zealand seem to have positive views of how their organisation engages with external stakeholders: 80% say that their organisation acts responsibly in all its business dealings and 71% that it lives up to its stated policy of social responsibility.
  • 82% of them say that people in their organisation know what is expected of them in terms of ethical behaviour (78% global average). However, they are not as likely to say that in their organisation decisions about people are made fairly (66% vs 65% global average) and that issues of right and wrong are discussed in staff meetings (57% vs 58% global average). 
  • They are less likely than average to say that their organisation disciplines employees who violate its ethical standards (59% vs 63% global average).

Current and future issues

  • 37% of employees in New Zealand say that, considering their organisation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, their opinion on how ethically their organisation behaves has improved. This figure is in line with the global average (37%). Only 6% say that it has worsened, while 54% say that it has stayed the same.
  • With regards to the future of the workplace, discrimination or bias in the workplace is the issue that employees in New Zealand are more likely to be concerned about (41%), followed by the misuse of AI for unethical behaviour (37%). The global averages for these two issues is 41% in both cases.