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Your code of ethics should be more than just window-dressing
By Lauren | October 22, 2009
Seems like every company has a code of ethics these days, especially since the federal government made having one a prerequisite for getting government contracts. Some of them are the size of a small phone book, others of a more practical length. Companies work hard to develop them, proudly roll them out, train their employees on them once a year (at most), then let them gather dust on the shelf in the intervening months.
Not a good idea.
The whole point of a code of ethics is to set the standard that you expect of your employees … and yourself. A code of ethics doesn’t do much good if it simply serves as a checkbox item (”yeah, we’ve got one”). Having a code and not actively complying with it can even hurt your company. If you get sued because you or one of your employees acted unethically, your code can become Exhibit A to support the plaintiff’s argument that you knew better.
It’s important for a company to have a workable code of ethics - in other words, a code written in plain language that’s short enough to be useful to all your employees, not just your Legal Department. And it’s essential that, once you have the code in place, you make it part of your company’s daily operations. Refer to it regularly, not just once a decade, and set up a place where your employees can go for clarification.
Just think - if the financial wizards who created the subprime mortgage meltdown had followed a code of ethics, the world economy might be in much better shape today. You can’t do much about them, but you can make ethics an important part of your company’s culture.
Topics: Business Ethics, Professional Ethics, Risk Management, business communications, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |