Engineers report pressure to compromise on ethics
April 22, 2013
By
Canadian Consulting Engineer
The Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. (APEGBC) reports that after surveying 755 respondents on ethics at the end of last fall, "Four out of 10 respondents feel the current level of ethics in their work environment is higher...
The Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. (APEGBC) reports that after surveying 755 respondents on ethics at the end of last fall, “Four out of 10 respondents feel the current level of ethics in their work environment is higher than when they started working as professional engineers or geoscientists.”
Only 9% actually declared that their work environment had become less ethical (presumably the rest of the respondents said it had stayed the same). However, a notable exception was the response from engineers working in the industrial sector: 21% of them reported that their work environment had become less ethical since they started their careers.
Perhaps most disturbing was the following finding related to respondents in all sectors: “A third of all respondents (30%) reported experiencing pressure to compromise professional or ethical standards in their work for competitive or financial reasons.”
More than half the respondents (58%) indicated that if there were a confidential mechanism to report concerns to ethics, or to seek guidance on them, they might consider using it.
Source: Innovation, p. 10-11, March/April 2013, published by APEGBC, click here
