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| Employee Handbook |
| Your Reputation is Everything: Developing a Written Code of Ethics |
It is an interesting paradox that most budget-conscious consumers are willing to "pay a little more" if they can be satisfied that the business providing the goods or service is honest. What if you were building a new home? Would you hire the cheapest contractor or the one with the reputation for providing a quality product and treating customers fairly? A code of ethics in business, if it is to be uniformly applied, must be written, not just assumed. Without written standards, ethical questions faced by businesses every day have to be solved again and again. Establish your company’s "minimum standard" of behavior by developing a code of ethics which addresses everything from pricing, billing and contracting to how you will deal with conflicts of interest, to how your company will protect the environment.
In order for your code of ethics to function effectively, it must be consistently and fairly enforced. It may help to conduct "ethical training" and allow your employees to practice what their response might be in a mock ethical situation. Review your company ethics periodically to send a signal that your concern with ethical behavior is not just a momentary fad, but a non-negotiable part of the way you do business.
- Remember that you will have more success if your employees are involved in establishing the ethical standards that govern the company.
- Set up a communication system that will allow employees report ethical violations without fear of negative repercussions.
- Honor the code “from the top down”
Call a Human Resource consultant to request samples of other companies’ written codes of ethics, and for assistance in developing your own. Your reputation is resting on it.
Developing a written code of ethics: "Ethics in business means more than just conforming to prevailing standards or laws. It means approaching business in the spirit of service rather than self-enrichment. It means always viewing your enterprise as contributing to, rather than extracting from society. It means running your company as if it were accountable not just to investors but also to workers, customers, the community, and ultimately the planet, which sustains us all." – Peter Barnes
"...the true moral and ethical dilemmas we face in our everyday life are almost never black and white."-Ralph Z. Sorensen
Source: "When is Enough" Business and Society Review.
The PEO Insider.
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