Saving the Company Comes at a Cost: The Relationship Between Belt-Tightening Tactics and Increased Employee Misconduct

Supplemental Research Brief from the 2009 NBES

In order to address changing needs and to weather financial struggles, companies often have to make difficult decisions that impact employees’ lives at—and outside of—work.  Companies use a variety of tactics (adjusted work schedules, layoffs, reductions in compensation and/or benefits, hiring freezes, early buyouts, production slowdowns, and plant closures1). Research conducted as a part of the 2009 National Business Ethics Survey2 reveals that all of these tactics are related to significant increases in the number of employees observing misconduct. Download Research Brief