Well it’s not wise to say everything starts at home. Businesses too need to be proactive when it comes to addressing dishonesty.

People cheat because they see others doing it.

Findings suggest that the cheating culture is not just a capitalistic phenomenon and that attitudinal differences are driven by gender, country corruption and socioeconomic environment, which are considered trends.

Workplace dishonesty not only costs businesses valuable time and resources, but also has a negative impact on a company’s bottom line.

An additional concern is company morale greatly suffers whenever there’s rampant workplace dishonesty and this can cause a chain reaction leading to even more dishonest behaviour by other employees.

Some employees may not realise some of their actions could be considered dishonest behaviour at their place of employment.

The misuse of company time is a good example. Businesses can lose significant amounts of money by keeping employees on the payroll who routinely conduct personal business while on the clock.

It’s considered dishonest for employees to make excessive personal phone calls, avoid performing the functions of their job or stay punched in while on breaks the company deems should be unpaid.

These performances are based on appraisal concern.

Repeated absence under false pretences is also considered dishonest behaviour. Regardless, many employees learn how to abuse programmes that award them time off for vacation, sick leave and personal days.

For example, it’s considered dishonest for employees to call in sick when they’re really not.

It’s also considered dishonest to fail to give your employer the required proper notice, waiting until the last minute to request time off when you knew about the situation well in advance.

As a new budget and incentives kick in there is a lot to gain as an employee or worker, so be mindful. Unfortunately, they may be learning to inextricably combine the cheating culture with best business practices.

NEELZ SINGH is our Letter of the Week winner (August Week 2). His letter was published on August 10, 2018.