National Surveys

Published every two years, ERC's National Business Ethics Survey® (NBES) is the nationally-recognized barometer of workplace ethics, in terms of both status and trends.

2011 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES)
View Key Findings and Survey Methodology
Over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics standards at their places of employment. Reporting of this wrongdoing was at all-time high - 65 percent - but so too was retaliation against employees who blew the whistle: more than one in five employees who reported misconduct they saw experienced some form of retaliation in return. According to the seventh National Business Ethics Survey® (NBES): Workplace Ethics in Transition, ethics cultures in business are also at their weakest point since 2000.

2011 NBES Supplemental Reports

As the only longitudinal survey measuring how employees at all levels in more than 3,000 U.S. workplaces view ethics within their own organizations, NBES is a valuable tool for business leaders, policymakers, boards of directors, ethics and compliance officers, consumers and investors interested in monitoring ethics trends and better understanding ethical practices within organizations. By giving voice to ethics concerns of employees at all levels, the NBES also helps to make leaders aware of the diversity of ethics perceptions.

Employee perspectives on ethics truly matter because they provide a real view of what is happening within organizations. Such input helps leaders assess effectiveness and risk using models based on real – not theoretical – information.

NBES is rooted in an academically rigorous methodology but also grounded in practical business ethics concerns. That balance is maintained through an advisory group of experts from business and academia, who vet survey questions on a range of current and emerging ethics issues including: