When it comes to their own day-to-day jobs, 53 percent say they rarely or never encounter ethical gray areas, although 14 percent of workers do at least once a month and 28 percent do occasionally. When workers have witnessed colleagues engaging in unethical behavior, they are more likely to experience gray areas themselves (25 percent say that occurs at least once a month). Witnesses also give lower ratings to their companies for communicating ethical standards.

On the positive side, 74 percent express confidence in their leadership, indicating that senior leaders of their company generally behave with honesty and integrity. However, among those who have witnessed their colleagues' transgressions, the percentage of those believing that their leaders are honest drops to 61 percent.

Other key findings include:

• Government workers are more likely than their entrepreneurial and private enterprise counterparts to report that they have seen coworkers engage in unethical or illegal behavior (38 percent compared to 29 percent and 31 percent, respectively).
• On average, those making less than $40,000 annually are less likely to feel their company's leadership behaves with honesty and integrity -- 65 percent compared to 74 percent nationally.
• Men under the age of 40 and African-American workers have witnessed significantly more ethical misconduct by co-workers (42 percent and 36 percent respectively).  
• Only 26 percent of workers over age 50 have witnessed unethical behavior, and 77 percent believe that their leaders behave with honesty and integrity.