The current global economic crisis is leading
some people to go to some desperate measures in
order to hold onto their jobs, according to a new
survey. The survey, entitled "The Global Recession
and its Effects on Work Ethics," interviewed 600
office workers from countries like the United States,
United Kingdom and Holland.
- A third of respondents confirmed they
would be willing to work 80 hours a week.
- 25 percent said they were prepared to
take a salary cut, if it meant they could keep
their jobs.
However, workers' efforts to keep their jobs
can come at a cost to their employers.
While 56 percent of workers surveyed admitted
to being worried about losing their jobs,
more than half of respondents said that they have
already downloaded competitive corporate data and
plan to use the information as a negotiating tool
to secure their next post.
When confronted with the prospect of being fired
tomorrow, ethics go out the door. 71 percent of
those surveyed declared they would definitely take
company data with them to their next employer.
Top of the list of desirable information
is the customer and contact databases, with plans
and proposals, product information and access/password
codes. Human Resource records and legal
documents were the least favored data the employees
were interested in taking.
Half of the workers said they would try using
their access rights to snoop around the computer
network. If this failed, they would consider bribing
a "friend" in the IT department to do it for them.
It would be unthinkable to leave money on a desk,
an obvious temptation to anyone passing. Sensitive
customer and proprietary company information should
be given the same consideration. Secure sensitive
information with password protection and encrypt
the very sensitive data. Only allow access to sensitive
information to those that really need it.
Memory sticks were the smallest, easiest, cheapest
and least traceable method of downloading huge amounts
of data. Other methods are photocopying, e-mailing,
CDs, online encrypted storage websites, smart phones,
DVDs, cameras, SKYPE and iPods.
The damage that employees
and associates can do should not be underestimated.
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