Workplace whistleblowers have experienced retaliation

by HRHQ Editorial Team

Four in ten (41pc) Irish workers (46pc global average) who have blown the whistle on misconduct in the workplace have experienced retaliation after they did so. Research released by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), in conjunction with Compliance Institute as a national partner, has also revealed that in the last 12 months, more than one in five (22pc) (25pc global average) employees have been aware of conduct by an employer or colleague that they believe violated either the law or the organisation’s ethical standards.

The Ethics at Work: 2024 International Survey of Employees was carried out by the Institute of IBE in conjunction with the Compliance Institute in Ireland and polled 12,067 participants between April and May 2024, achieving approximately 750 responses in each of the 16 participating countries. Countries involved in the research were UK, USA, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Brazil, India and Japan. The survey was conducted by leading market research agency Yonder Consulting on behalf of the Institute of Business Ethics. A total of 750 of those surveyed were in Ireland.

The survey found

• There has been an increase in the number of Irish employees who have noticed misconduct in the workplace since the last time this survey was conducted in 2021 – up from 16pc in 2021 to 22pc in 2024. However, the figure is below the global average for 2024 of 25pc.
• Men were far more likely than women to speak up about legal or ethical violations in the workplace (76pc versus 53pc)
• Men were more likely than women to be satisfied with the outcome after they flagged misconduct (76pc v 60pc).
• More than four in ten (44pc) women believed they could put their job in jeopardy by speaking up about wrongdoing in the workplace – interestingly, only three in ten (30pc) men felt that way.
• Almost half (47pc) of women were reluctant to flag misconduct in the workplace as they didn’t want to be seen as troublemakers, while more than one in three (35pc) men said the same.
• Workers aged 18-34 were more than three times as likely to be aware of sexual harassment as people over the age of 55 were (31pc versus 9pc).

Commenting on the survey findings, Michael Kavanagh, CEO of the Compliance Institute, said

“The ethics survey gives us an important and fascinating insight into organisational culture and the developments within it, not just in Ireland but across the world. There are major lessons to be learned from this research.

The different experiences of men and women, and of younger and older workers are well worth exploring.  For example, half (50pc) of the female employees asked said they were aware of bullying or harassment in their workplace – compared to 37pc of men.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely than women to be aware of an abuse of authority (42pc versus 37pc).

It is worrying that women are much more reticent than men are about speaking up in the workplace – and that women are more inclined to think they could lose their job or be dismissed as troublemakers for doing so.”

Retaliation

While employees who speak up are still facing retaliation for doing so, the Ethics Survey found that there has been a fall in the numbers of Irish workers who have experienced this – from 52pc in 2021 to 42pc in 2024 (46pc global average).

Seven in ten (70pc) Irish employees who have spoken up about the misconduct in 2024 said they were satisfied with the outcome, up on just less than six in ten (58pc) in the 2021 survey.

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