Ever wish you could give potential candidates a lie detector test? Think: Robert DeNiro, playing a former CIA operative and over-protective dad, with daughter's new boyfriend (Ben Stiller) in "Meet the Parents."

Well, while performing a lie detector test on prospective employees at a flower shop is a little extreme, the worries of employers are justified, according to a recent Workforce Week article. Questionable ethical behavior on the job is OK among Generation Y employees, reports The Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey. The survey included responses from 725 teenagers, ages 13 to 18, and it found that "40 percent of the same group 'believe it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed.'"

Apparently, employers should expect and condone this behavior, the article says, adding that "nearly 30 percent of teens claim that it is unfair for employers to suspend or fire employees for unethical behavior that occurs in their free time."

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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