One in six employees lie to cover up mistakes involving the use of a wrong version of a document, a survey has revealed today.
The report, commissioned by Tower Software, attempted to quantify the losses suffered by businesses as a result of poor file management. It surveyed 300 employees at various levels of the corporate ladder, all of whom used a computer as part of their job.
It was found that 16% of employees had lied to cover up mistakes as a result of the wrong version of information being presented to co-workers, managers, as well as those outside the company, such as customers or suppliers.
The ramifications for such errors were also assayed, with two thirds of employees reporting subsequent negative consequences for their actions.
Reported consequences, in order of frequency, were:
- Personal embarrassment (cited by 23 % of respondents)
- Legal action (8 %)
- Bad publicity (7 %)
- Loss of customers (6 %)
