Lie for me not to me says UK bosses

A new survey has shown that while the vast majority of company directors and senior managers believe it is wrong for their employees to lie to them, almost half are comfortable with those same employees telling untruths on their behalf to their customers. The research also reveals that female bosses appear more comfortable with lies in the workplace than their male counterparts.

Only 7 per cent of British bosses feel that it is acceptable for an employee to tell an occasional lie to them, according to research conducted by The Aziz Corporation, the UK’s leading independent executive communications consultancy. However, 37 per cent of bosses believe it is acceptable for their employees to tell white lies to customers, and 46 per cent think telling untruths is acceptable if this could safeguard the company.

The research also found that slightly more bosses (11 per cent) find poor timekeeping more acceptable than lying, perhaps suggesting that the inveterate liar would be better not to turn up to work at all. By contrast, surfing the internet during office hours, sending personal emails and making personal phone calls are now considered acceptable by 36 per cent, 83 per cent and 85 per cent of bosses respectively.

Attitudes to lying in the workplace appear to depend, at least in part, on the purpose of the lie. While only 2 per cent of bosses believe it is acceptable to lie to take sick leave, and just 3 per cent when making an expenses claim, 14 per cent are comfortable with employees lying on their CVs and 24 per cent about being late for a meeting.

Professor Khalid Aziz, Chairman of The Aziz Corporation, which conducted the survey as part of the eighth annual Aziz Management Communications Index, comments:

“The survey shows that many UK bosses believe that it is acceptable for their employees to lie, so long as they aren’t lying to them! These senior business leaders regard occasional lies from employees as more acceptable then poor time keeping and no worse than absenteeism.

“Most remarkable is that 14 per cent of senior management felt that it was acceptable for an employee to lie when writing their CV. This very serious breach of confidence was regarded as more acceptable than taking a ‘sickie’ or fiddling an expense claim.

“Honesty may not always be the best policy from a business point of view, but it should certainly be something that senior managers should encourage amongst their staff. The damage that can be done to their personal reputation and that of their company is often difficult to recover from. It is important for senior staff to lead by example.”

Female bosses favour fibbing more than men
When it comes to lying in the workplace, women seem to be more comfortable telling untruths themselves, or with their staff lying for them, than men.

10 per cent of women think that the occasional lie is acceptable from employees, compared with only 6 per cent of men. 22 per cent are comfortable with their staff lying about missed deadlines, compared with 12 per cent of men. 29 per cent of female bosses are happy for their employees to lie to cover for a colleague, compared with 18 per cent of men. And 61 per cent of women believe it is right to tell an untruth to save an organisation, compared to 41 per cent of men.