Almost half of UK employees have encountered illegal or inappropriate activities at work, according to research.
A survey of 2,000 workers, by pollster You Gov, reveals that one in three are more happy to report illegal or inappropriate activity than three years ago, compared to just 10% who feel the opposite.
Disgruntled workers are even more likely to report illegal goings-on. Almost two-thirds would consider reporting the company if they felt their employer treated them unfairly, and more than 27% said that large salary rises for the board or poor salary reviews for staff could spur them to act.
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The research, commissioned by software licensing watchdog the Business Software Alliance (BSA), 87% of UK employees would report bullying or harassment, 76% would report theft and 71% would report fraud. In comparison, just 27% of respondents would report cases of illegal software use.
Siobhan Carroll, regional manager for northern Europe at BSA, said: “While we would encourage employees to speak to their managers if possible, we have found that our initiative at the BSA, which allows informants to disclose details of illegal software use anonymously, does encourage people to come forward with information.”
