Nearly half of workers in London have witnessed wrong-doing by a manager or colleague but only 15% would report it.
These are the findings from a recent survey by KMPG.
The research reveals that over half of employees in the capital have some doubts over the integrity of their bosses.
When asked whether they believed that the management at their companies sets a good example for honest behaviour, 45% said that ‘some were more trustworthy than others’, and 10% said they did not.
Types of misconduct witnessed by employees include:
- Theft of stock or supplies – 28% cited this – one manager was even found to be running a market stall with the goods
- Cooking the books – 27% named fiddling of expenses – one manager had used a company electrician to rewire his house; and a group of managers had visited strip clubs on the company expense account
- Monetary theft – 23% had witnessed this, ranging from cashing of company cheques to payments to fake companies
- Accounting fraud – 14% said they had worked at companies where some level of accounting fraud had occurred
- A further 8% named misdemeanours such as tax evasion, accepting back-handers in return for contracts and examples of people running another business using company resources.
“Bosses must show consistent levels of good behaviour and lead by example if they are to expect it from staff. This can make a significant contribution to reducing the risk of fraud being perpetrated in their businesses,” said Alex Plavsic, head of Fraud Investigation Services at KPMG.
“The tone at the top and setting clear codes of conduct is crucial if employees are to make the connection between wrong-doing they see their colleagues up to, and the success of the companies they work for. Employees need to see that fraud costs money, and at its worst, costs jobs.”
