Giving performance feedback related to ethical behavior is as important as any other business performance measure. The more ethical the workforce, the better for all.

Some behaviors are unethical but may not be illegal. For example, it's unethical to harass a co-worker, but it may or may not be illegal. Stealing money from your employer is both unethical and illegal. Bullying is unethical behavior but is not illegal in many states, although more and more states are enacting legislation to make it illegal. Consult your organization's Human Resources Department and/or a lawyer regarding the behavior in question.

Having a corporate ethics officer can certainly be helpful, but "best practices" would indicate that role models of ethical behavior come from every department, every facility, and every level of the corporate flowchart.

Corporate leaders who apply and support ethics in the workplace know the postive effect ethical behavior has on the company and on its bottom line.

When communicating ethical practices in the workplace, it's important to be clear, with consistent messages that are repeated frequently.

Employees often complain that nothing gets done when reporting unethical behavior in the workplace, so they often say to themselves and others, "What's the point?" This is a common rationalization. However, best practices indicate that holding people and companies accountable for unethical behavior is the right thing to do and should be done despite not always seeing direct results. An unethical employee may seem to be getting away with something, but standing by and doing nothing is not the answer.

Everyone in the workplace is responsible for his or her own ethical behavior. It's also important to recognize that everyone is responsible for being good role models and for reporting both the good and the unethical behavior of others.

The values of a company can become a huge part of its code of ethics; for example, the manager of a used car sales lot may pay particular attention to the ethical behavior of the salespeople in order to counter common negative stereotypes.

Most employees can see such signs of unethical behavior as co-workers stealing copy paper, or a co-worker punching another's time card, or someone harassing a new employee. That's because we see these behaviors directly and immediately understand their unfairness. It's more difficult to see the direct results of positive workplace ethics because we just expect good behavior. But the positive results of an ethical workplace are many including a good reputation, increased productivity, less staff turnover, and fewer lawsuits.