Despite what you may have taken away from the TV show Mad Men, men and women are equally committed to following the ethical code of the workplace. However, women more frequently find themselves at risk when it comes to the ethics of ethical business behavior. 

A study from the Ethics and Compliance Initiative, a nonprofit that supports workplace ethics, reports that "in terms of ethics and compliance, female workers are at much greater risk than their male counterparts. That enhanced risk applies to female leaders as well as lower-level female employees." 

The study cites three major risk areas for women leaders:  

  • Women in senior leadership positions are more likely than men at the same level to feel pressure to compromise company ethics standards and/or the law; 

  • Women are more likely to experience retaliation for reporting misconduct; 

  • Women are more likely to doubt their leaders' commitment to workplace integrity.  

The survey team interviewed employees about their beliefs regarding their leaders' commitment to workplace ethics.  

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.