Bayt.com’s ‘Values, Ethics and Integrity in the MENA Workplace’, a poll recently conducted by the region’s number one job site, has revealed that despite respondents across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region considering top ethics and integrity to be very important in a company, more than half have at some point in their careers been asked to do something they considered to be somewhat challenging to their own set of personal values.
For98% of respondents, working for a company that has top ethics and integrity is important – ‘very important’ to92.3%. Roughly three quarters (74.2%) consider the company they work for to have a high level of ethics and integrity, to ‘a large extent’ for45.8% of respondents.
Six in10 state that their company has a written code of ethics, which67.8% claim is fleshed out and well-communicated in a transparent manner. Ethics training is required at68% of respondents’ companies, with78.8% claiming that ethical criteria are included in the employee appraisal system.
On the other hand,17.2% say that their company is not at all transparent about its values, with a further15% stating that the level of transparency is low.
Top managers set a good example of ethical conduct, according to68% of respondents, though only47.7% consider, to a large extent, that their direct manager is someone with a high level of ethics and integrity. A quarter (23.3%) state that their direct manager may not be someone they see as having a high level of ethics and integrity.
This is perhaps reflected in the fact that54.6% of respondents have been asked to do something at work at some point in their careers that has clashed with their personal values. For18.4% of those respondents it is a frequent occurrence, while it happens ‘sometimes’ for the remaining36.2%. Two thirds (66%) claim that their companies do have procedures for reporting unethical behavior, for which individuals are punished at72.1% of respondents’ organizations.
According to51.5% of respondents, it is possible to succeed professionally without compromising their personal morals and values, though they are opposed by29.8% who believe the opposite is true. A fifth (18.7%) believe that it is only possible to exceed ‘to some extent’ without breaching personal ethics.
Suhail Al-Masri, VP of Sales, Bayt.com said: “Transparency and a just and ethical approach to work is very important in the MENA region’s workplace. Creating an environment that encourages ethical practices and upholds strong values is imperative in attracting top talent, who seek work at organizations that are in line with their own ethical values and moral drivers. With this in mind, companies across the MENA are increasingly working towards adopting more policies that actively nurture an ethical, integrity-driven workplace – one in which transparency and respect for values is vital.”
Data for the Bayt.com ‘Values, Ethics and Integrity in the MENA Workplace’ poll was collected online from April14-May202014, with6,817 respondents from the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.