Workplace culture and conduct: Challenges and opportunities

Workplace culture and conduct seem to be on every organization’s radar, and everyone is asking how they can build work environments that are free of harassment, discrimination, and destructive workplace conduct. Leaders who assume this only happens somewhere else—because they believe they have a good culture and they treat their employees well—could be making a dangerous mistake.

Employees feel empowered to speak up and report misconduct issues in the workplace, which can manifest in several forms, including:

• Sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, and intimidation
• Insider fraud, including theft, deception, and conflicts of interest
• Absenteeism, insubordination, and recurring performance issues

Any one or combination of these issues potentially exposes an organization to significant—and often irreparable—legal, reputational, and financial risks.

In Deloitte’s new perspective, Workplace culture and conduct: Challenges and opportunities, we offer insight into the issues of workplace misconduct and offer suggested solutions for organizations to diagnose and treat these issues.