* Findings from Robert Half Technology's survey on ethics
IT leaders are privy to all types of intellectual property and financial data, so it’s good to know that they’re respected.
Robert Half Technology, an IT staffing and recruitment firm, surveyed 150 executives from HR, finance, marketing, IT and operations jobs in large companies about ethics. IT pros were second only to doctors in terms of being perceived as having moral standards in the workplace.
“Strong ethics are critical for technology professionals as they oversee a company’s vital information infrastructure and manage access to confidential data,” says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. She adds that IT pros have a lot of visibility in the business and their ability to solve network problems earns them much respect in the workplace.
Respondents were asked, “Which one of the following types of professionals are the most ethical?” Here are the results:
* Doctors: 31%
* IT professionals: 30%
* Accountants: 20%
* Lawyers: 5%
* Investment bankers: 1%
* None of the above: 8%
* Don’t know/no answer: 5%
In the fallout of the Enron debacle, IT executives have even more responsibility for ensuring their companies comply with federal privacy and security regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. (See https://www.nwfusion.com/research/2003/0901regs.html).
