Presentation of the study 

Ethics at Work is a triennial study carried out since 2005 by the IBE and which, in 2018, through a partnership with Católica Porto Business School, included Portugal for the first time.

The study is carried out through a survey of a representative sample of the working population in each country, where three main areas are analysed: ethical culture (essential for understanding the role ethics plays in the organisation and how deeply values are rooted in the decision-making process); the identification of ethical risks (to understand which issues should be the focus of an organisation's ethics programme) and support for ethics in the workplace (to understand what elements of organisations' ethics programmes are and what influence they have on employee behaviour).

Ethics at Work 2024

This year, the Institute of Business Ethics launched its seventh triennial survey covering 12,000 workers from 16 countries on six continents - Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. The study aims to understand attitudes and perceptions about ethics in the workplace, identify trends by comparing with data from previous surveys, and compare the view of business ethics among workers in different countries. The survey covers topics such as workers' willingness to report misconduct, the frequency of retaliation, and the pressure to compromise ethical values to get results.

See here the international results Ethics at Work: 2024 international survey of employees | Institute of Business Ethics

See here the national results for Portugal | Institute of Business Ethics - IBE

The results of this edition in Portugal were presented in a public session at the Annual Conference of the Ethics Forum, on the afternoon of 12 November 2024, at the Católica Porto Business School.

The conference began with a "Welcome and presentation of the Ethics Forum" by the associate dean of Católica Porto Business School, Ana Lourenço. This was followed by the deputy director of the Institute of Business Ethics, Rachael Saunders, who discussed "The employees’ voice: ethics at work 2024", where she framed the study and presented the international results. The coordinator of the Ethics Forum, Helena Gonçalves, presented the evolution of the national results on "The voice of the Portuguese: ethics at work from 2018 to 2024". The conference also included a round table moderated by Sofia Salgado, lecturer at Católica Porto Business School, with the participation of João Mouta, head of Ethics and Compliance at Ageas Portugal Group, Raquel Carvalho, head of Legal and Compliance at Altri, and Rita Sousa, head of Ethics and Compliance of EDP and EDP R Group. The event concluded with a dinner debate for managers. 

Find out more about the conference here. 

Special - Ethics at Work 2024

Ethical organisational culture: what do we (really) need to know? - VER

The third annual reflection meeting of the Ethics Forum at Católica Porto Business School opened the floor to discussion on the question posed above, complementing it with the first results of the Ethics at Work 2024 survey.

The voices of the workers: a glass half full - VER

The ‘Ethics at Work 2024’ Internacional Survey of more than 12,000 workers in 16 countries reveals a significant increase in reported cases of misconduct and persistent fears of retaliation for speaking out

The Portrait of Ethics at Work: what changed between 2018 and 2024 - VER

The results for Portugal reveal progress in some areas, but also persistent challenges, mainly in relation to the pressure to compromise ethics and the consequences for those who report irregularities

The voice of managers: experiences of ethics and compliance management - VER

The annual conference of the Ethics Forum of Católica Porto Business School, dedicated to discussing the results of the ‘Ethics at Work’ study, was attended by representatives of the Ageas, Altri and EDP business groups

Ethics at Work 2021

Results for Portugal

The Portuguese continue to consider the organisations where they work to be honest (84%), but they are still among those who witness the most misconduct (20%), although less than in the last study. Of the countries studied, we also continue to be the one in which people find it most difficult to report the bad practices they witness (46 per cent).
But we have improved in all the mechanisms and instruments that are part of a comprehensive ethics programme: code (62%), training (50%) and speakup lines (43%) and counselling (43%), although there is still much room for improvement there.

The results for Portugal were released at Católica Porto Business School, as part of the conference "The Voice of the Portuguese: Ethics at Work 202", the recording of which can be consulted here.

At the conference, Guendalina Dondé, IBE's Head of Research, gave a framework for the study, Ana Roque and Helena Gonçalves, coordinators of the Ethics Forum, presented the results, followed by round table comments from a panel made up of representatives from the Forum's four sponsoring companies (Ageas, Bial, Lipor and Superbock Group) and moderated by Alberto de Castro, Director of CEGEA.

After the conference there was also a dinner debate for managers with a speech by IBE president Ian Peters and a presentation of the study's results from a leadership perspective by Guendalina Dondé.

Global Results

The global results are available on the IBE website, but here are some of the main findings:

Special - Ethics at Work 2021

“There is no right way to do what is wrong”

Every three years, the Institute of Business Ethics surveys a representative sample of the adult working population in each of the countries surveyed to try to gauge the main progress or setbacks in the ethical culture of organisations. In partnership with the Ethics Forum of Católica Porto Business School, which was responsible for including Portugal in the study and organised a conference on the subject, this week's newsletter is entirely dedicated to this complex issue which, despite already being on the agenda of many companies, is still not effective enough to promote a climate of transparency and the involvement of top management, among other components, as would be desirable. 

Therefore, and from the particular to the general, the feature article is dedicated to the results achieved by Portugal, which provide an excellent opportunity for Portuguese managers to access a wide range of indicators that will allow them to measure the pulse of ethics in their own organisations.

VER also asked Helena Gonçalves and Ana Roque, coordinators of the Ethics Forum, to comment in an interview on the positive and negative points resulting from this analysis, in which Portugal is taking part for the second time. Also at the aforementioned conference, there was a round table made up of representatives from the four companies sponsoring the Forum, which was moderated by Alberto de Castro, director of CEGEA, and which gave rise to an interesting debate, with various avenues for reflection for the future.

And for a more comprehensive view of the various countries analysed, the results of the 13 countries in question were also presented and then commented on by Guen Dondé, Head of Research at the IBE.

Ethics at work Portugal in the press

Jornal de Negócios - A third of employees aware of bad behaviour in the workplace

Público - Portuguese still struggle to report bad ethical practices

Ecco - One in five Portuguese pressurised to ‘breach’ ethics at work

Executive Digest - What pressures do employees feel at work? Catholic University discusses ethics at work today  

Human Resources - What pressures do employees feel in their organisations? The answer will be revealed at this conference 

Mais superior - Católica Porto promotes debate on Ethics at Work based on a worldwide studyl

Rua Direita - Main results of global study on ethics at work presented at online conference

Previous editions

The first year the study was carried out in Portugal was 2018, and the results for our country can be found here. 

In general terms, the conclusions for Portugal are that the Portuguese have a better opinion of the companies where they work in terms of ethics than workers in the other countries studied, but, on the other hand, they are among those who complain most about feeling pressure and those who most admit to having witnessed dubious situations. When it comes to reporting bad practices, they are among those who report the least unethical behaviour.
To see the results and compare Portugal's results with those of other European countries, you can consult the full European study here.

The study and the results in our country were echoed in the news in Portugal and in other countries too:

PortalVER - Level of pressure jeopardises ethical principles

Público - Portuguese turn a blind eye to ethical failings at work

Human Resources - Ethics at work: Portugal 2018

Bom Dia - How are Portuguese employees' work ethics?

Pressat - Portuguese employees the most ethical in Europe, reveals Institute of Business Ethics' survey

Boardagenda - Portuguese workers lead on ethics