Over the years, many companies have fallen victim to a new trend: compromising ethics in order to remain profitable. In the 2011 National Business Ethics Survey conducted by the Ethics Resource Center, it was found that “ethics cultures are eroding and employees’ perceptions of their leaders’ ethics are slipping. Additionally, pressure from employers to compromise standards is at an all-time high and retaliation has reached an alarming rate.” This means that while the employees may have a desire to stick with their moral code, the employers are trying to cut corners, and it is being noticed. In an attempt to curb this trend, an entire industry has developed; there are now companies that exist solely for helping other companies write and maintain a “code of ethics.”
The fact that these support companies exist are indicative of this alarming movement towards bad business practices. As corporations move forward, are they also moving down? Are these support companies merely slowing the trend down, but not stopping it? Of course, there are examples of companies paying billions of dollars more to do the right thing: Starbucks fair trade coffee, Ben and Jerry’s paying premium for fair trade ingredients, and American Apparel selling clothing only made in fair trade factories around the world. These companies are well known and profitable; why can’t other businesses take the clue?
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