Ethics Resource Center Report / Retaliation: The Cost to Your Company and Its Employees
The report documents how companies that tolerate retaliation suffer increased levels of employee misconduct and how the employees' mere perception of retaliation is sufficient to deter reporting of misconduct. It is also an indicator of the level of actual misconduct, finding that 15% of employees who report misconduct experience retaliation. The rate is higher for union members (21%) and those in firms of 100 to 500 employees (also 21%, an increase from 14% in 2007). If employees feel "extreme pressure" to compromise standards, then they report retaliation at a rate of 59%.
Of those reporting retaliation, most experienced exclusion from decisions and work activity (62%), a cold shoulder (60%), and verbal abuse by a supervisor or manager (55%). The survey reports that 48% say they almost lost their job, 43% say they lost promotions or raises, 18% were demoted, and 4% experienced physical harm to person or property.
