Not every employee would report compliance violations, a new study shows. Don’t you dare, or don’t you know how? Legal requirements and the role of HR.
Compliance regulations are widespread in German companies and enjoy a high level of acceptance among the majority of the workforce. Nevertheless, there is a gap between expectations and reality in crucial areas: reporting channels are unknown to many employees, trust in the protection of whistleblowers is only moderately developed, and a relevant proportion of employees would simply keep quiet about an observed violation of the rules. This is shown by the current study “Compliance as reflected in employees” by the Königsteiner (proper spelling KÖNIGSTEINER) Group.
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The Study “Compliance as reflected by employees” was created by the Königsteiner Group. For the study, the market research institute Bilendi surveyed 1,056 employees nationwide in January 2026. The sample was structured according to gender (50 percent each), education (half academics and half non-academics) and level of employment (87 percent full-time, 13 percent part-time). The average age of the respondents was 45.3 years.
