Benefits May 17, 2007

Some Individuals Admit to Sacrificing Ethics for Money

May 17, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - More individuals believe in keeping financial details under wraps, with 88% of individuals saying co-workers shouldn't know how much you make and 82% saying salary details should be hidden from your relatives, according to the results of the CNNMoney survey.
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The survey of about 1,000 respondents tried to decipher individuals’ ethics when it comes to money matters.

Six percent of respondents admitted they would sleep with their boss if they thought it would help them get ahead. This subset tended to be young, single and 10 times more likely to be men than women.

The survey showed a divide along gender lines when it comes to ethical behavior, with women emerging as the seemingly more ethical sex. Both women and men say women are more ethical than men.

According to the survey, women are more likely to express concern about ethical issues and to play by the rules. For instance, women don’t tend to invest in companies that manufacture products they disapprove of and few women sneak into second movies at the multiplex or steal office supplies.

Other results of the survey include:

  • 1 in 5said they would keep the money if their bank put $2,000 into their account by mistake
  • 1 in 6also said they ‘ ve returned an item to a store for a refund once they were done using it
  • Nearly 30% felt it would not or probably would not be wrong to force their elderly mother to move to an assisted-living facility, even if years earlier they had accepted a large financial gift from her and promised to help keep her there for the rest of her life.

To take the money and morals survey visit www.CNNMoney.com/moneyethics .

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