3 steps to deal with unethical actions in the workplace

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Have you experienced questionable behavior in your workplace and didn't know how to respond? Or have you witnessed some unethical actions and didn't know how to report it? Recognizing and responding to these kinds of actions will help you positively impact your workplace culture.

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According to Managing Life At Work, unethical workplace behavior is defined as "any action at work that goes against the prevailing moral norms of a community."

Examples of Unethical Behavior

• Fraud: ignoring regulations, bribes, tax evasion

• Bullying: offensive comments, humiliation

• Theft: stealing from the company, employees, or clients

• Abusive leadership: Negative comments, intimidation, humiliation

• Aggression: physical violence, threats

• Sexual harassment: unwanted comments or contact

• Discrimination: unfair treatment because of race, gender, religion, age, or other traits

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Before you figure out how you'll respond, first establish if your workplace has any policies or code of ethics regarding these actions. According to Ethico, having an in-depth understanding of a policy violation will make your report "more likely to be taken seriously."

After confirming a policy violation, start documenting any incident in detail. Include the date, time, location, and names of people involved. Make sure your report is based on events you witnessed and not any rumors.

Next, you'll want to include any proof that supports your report. Also, see if there are any witnesses who are willing to back up your report.

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When it's time to report unethical actions, you may find that there are a few different places you could turn to. These are some common options you'll run into when you make your report:

• Your supervisor

• Human Resources department

• An ethics hotline if available

While you can make verbal reports to these options, you might also want to make a physical or digital report, as there are instances of verbal reports being ignored.

If you wish to remain anonymous, an ethics hotline or any other anonymous report line may be the way to go.

If your report is dealing with any illegal actions, it might be best to skip reporting to an internal source and go straight to law enforcement.

You notice a colleague might be getting bullied by someone else in the workplace. You witnessed inappropriate things being said to this person on a few different occasions. What should you do?

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• Start documenting these interactions along with when and where they happened.

• Gather any proof to support your claims, like inappropriate messages from the colleague.

• If another colleague has witnessed this behavior, ask if they are willing to support it.

• Report this behavior to a supervisor, HR, or ethics hotline.

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With this information in mind, you should be able to identify and report unethical actions in your workplace.