Ethical behaviour is on the increase in the workplace according to new research.

The Institute of Business Ethics found 84% of British staff always or frequently try to display ethical behaviour in the workplace compared with 80% in 2005. Only 11% claim they compromise their organisation's ethical standards - down from a 2005 figure of 19%.

More than half of the organisations surveyed (55%) offer staff training in ethics, up from 50% three years ago, and two thirds of businesses have a written code of ethical practice.

More than nine out of 10 staff (93%) think it is unacceptable to fiddle their expenses, 55% would not contemplate stealing pens and pencils from work and 48% think it is wrong to make personal calls from their office phones.

Public-sector workers were found to be more honest than their private-sector counterparts (89% compared with 81% in the private sector).