The Global Business Ethics Survey (GBES) offers a trove of significant insights into the ethics and compliance landscape in corporate workplaces. This in-depth survey carried out by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) casts light on the perceptions, experiences, and challenges that underpin ethical conduct from the employees’ viewpoint.
The subsequent part of the survey, the focus was on the topic of dealing with workplace misconduct. On closer examination of the data, various trends began to emerge in relation to how corporations across the wide business spectrum are currently mitigating misconduct in the workplace. Producing actionable intelligence in such matters is a critical aspect of ensuring responsibility and fiscal diligence throughout large corporate and legal entities.
Having had the great opportunity to speak with Pat Harned, the incumbent President of the ECI, we delved into the key findings from the 2023 iteration of the GBES. Laid out in this piece will be a brief summary of these critical insights and how they, in turn, might inform the development and deployment of more effective and comprehensive workplace ethics and compliance programs. These programs, when successfully implemented, can be pivotal tools in reducing the incidence of misconduct, fostering a culture of transparency, and promoting an environment conducive to ethical conduct.
- Corporations should adopt proactive strategies: Dealing with misconduct after it has occurred can be substantially more challenging and damaging than preemptively addressing the risk. This is why companies must ensure that they have effective compliance programs in place that are preventative as much as they are reactionary.
- Zoning in on high-risk areas: Proactive strategies will need to be tailored to each organization’s individual context, taking on board the unique factors that present potential risks. Examination of these areas at risk from non-compliance or misconduct should be a priority form of assessment.
- Employee education and empowerment: Greater emphasis on ethics education and the empowerment of every member of staff from top to bottom can strongly contribute to a robust, self-regulating workplace environment. This might involve routine workshops or training programs highlighting the ramifications of misconduct, both for the individuals involved and the wider organization.
Understanding how businesses are addressing workplace misconduct and learning from their efforts–be they successes or failures–is a vital process in striving towards loftier standards of ethics and compliance. The GBES is, therefore, an instrumental resource for the business world in addressing this critical issue.