FIFTH PRINCIPLE
Establish and maintain an integrity help-line
Monitoring and responding to violations
Establishing and maintaining an integrity help-line, this gives employees a place to go to with questions about ethical conduct as well as a place to report ethical concerns. A help-line not only provides the company with the opportunity to help influence ethical behaviour in real time, but it also gives the compliance personnel and company leadership insights into high risk activities. It can also provide valuable leads on potential serious legal issues that may warrant further investigation or possible remedial measures, in order to protect the company from losses and legal proceedings.
Often, employees are intimidated by the prospect of reaching out internally to raise a concern, due to fear of retaliation or self-incrimination. Therefore, companies opt to establish anonymous or at least confidential help lines and establish a non-retaliation policy.
An integrity help-line is only as good as its level of use. Therefore, it is crucial that the relevant leadership introduces and promotes the line in a way that encourages its use.
Employees in companies where leaders speak about ethics and compliance are 12 times more likely to believe that they are encouraged to speak up about violations.
(Source: Global Business Ethics Survey, Building Companies Where Values and Ethical Conduct Matter, 2018, EIC)
Three factors which particularly increase the probability of compliance and integrity violations by employees:
1. Poor leadership, which does not provide a personal example of ethics, and which does not penalise employees for violations,
2. Focusing on results, while expressing no concerns over how they will be reached,
3. Important changes, such as lay-offs, leadership replacements and expansion to new markets
(Source: Global Business Ethics Survey, Interpersonal Misconduct in the Workplace, 2018, EIC)
(Source: Global Business Ethics Survey, Building Companies Where Values and Ethical Conduct Matter, 2018, EIC)