Month: July 2019

NEW YORK, July 29, 2019 (Newswire.com) – ​​​​​Ethisphere, William E. Connor & Associates Ltd. and Omega Compliance Ltd. today announced an initiative in which the organizations will partner to help facilitate the sharing of research, tools and other best practices in business ethics and integrity for companies operating within the Asia Pacific region. The initiative will convene leaders from across a range of companies and organizations committed to operating with integrity for opportunities to connect and share ideas, and will ultimately measure, define and codify best practices in business ethics and integrity across the region.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with organizations like Connor and Omega Compliance, companies with a long-standing commitment to ethics and compliance, and proven leaders in elevating the conversation around integrity globally,” said Timothy Erblich, Chief Executive Officer of Ethisphere. “For years, our BELA community has been working to collectively help define and share the best practices, challenges and trends being experienced by company leaders in key markets around the globe, and we look forward to helping accomplish that goal via partnerships such as this.”

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to take a leading role in partnering with Ethisphere and helping to support companies interested in furthering their commitment to ethics across Asia,” said William E. “Chip” Connor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Connor. “We are proud to have been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for eight consecutive years, and to work with other leaders across the region to help support a community of leading companies focused on operating with the highest levels of integrity.”

This initiative will provide global companies with a series of data, insight, research and networking opportunities that will ensure they have the tools they need to implement a best-in-class ethics and compliance program to support a strong culture of integrity.

As part of this program, a series of closed-door, in-depth roundtable discussions and workshops on topical issues are currently scheduled to take place in Hong Kong and Singapore over the next 12 months. Ethisphere and Connor will jointly produce a publication capturing key trends and best practices in ethics and compliance from leading companies operating across the Asia Pacific region.

In partnership with Ethisphere’s Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), a globally recognized community of more than 270 multinational companies, this partnership will culminate in an in-depth research whitepaper report codifying best practices and providing benchmarks and recommendations for multinational companies interested in enhancing their ethics, compliance and integrity programs.

“Companies face significant ethics and compliance challenges when doing business in many markets across Asia, including risks across the supply chain, corruption challenges, and data integrity, just to name a few,” said Jon White, Managing Director of Omega Compliance, a sister company of Connor. “It’s important for companies to be vigilant and continuously review the programs and practices they have in place to ensure the highest levels of ethics and compliance oversight. This initiative will provide excellent opportunities for leaders across industries to share and learn from their peers and help stay in front of the many challenges facing companies today.”

“Ethisphere has long had the privilege of collaborating with some of the best and most respected companies around the world, who in turn have been committed to open collaboration and sharing with one another their best practices in ethics and compliance programs. Including areas such as assessing and measuring employee culture, benchmarking key elements of an ethics and compliance program, and ensuring they are staying in front of regulations and customer expectations in each of the global markets in which they operate,” said Stefan Linssen, Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships at Ethisphere. “We’re excited to partner with Connor and Omega Compliance on this initiative, and look forward to working with members of our Business Ethics Leadership Alliance to help support and further enhance ethics and compliance programs across this critical region.”

The output and highlights of this initiative will be shared broadly with the business community across the Asia Pacific region, and select tools will be curated and published as part of the online BELA Member Hub under a dedicated AsiaPac Center of Excellence. These tools and insights will be refreshed throughout the year and will provide opportunities for companies to know they have the appropriate practices and programs in place to ensure they are operating with the highest levels of integrity.

To learn more, please visit http://bela.ethisphere.com.

About Ethisphere 

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere also helps to advance business performance through data-driven assessments, benchmarking and guidance. More information about Ethisphere can be found at https://ethisphere.com.

About William E. Connor & Associates Ltd.

The Connor Group is a leading worldwide merchandise sourcing company with a 70-year history of performance, a global office network of 35 offices in 20 countries, and represents more than 60 of the world’s leading retailers and brands in North America, Europe, Australasia, Korea and Latin America. Unlike most companies in the sourcing industry, Connor is totally transparent with no beneficial interest in any vendor or service provider and operates only as a service company – not a trading company, vendor or manufacturer.

Connor provides its clients with end-to-end direct sourcing solutions including vendor identification, social compliance, technical qualification, product development, sampling, price negotiations, production management and delivery. Client relationships are long-term sourcing partnerships, with dedicated global teams managing their business.

The Connor Group has a passion for detail, quality, service and the ethical conduct of commerce. Connor has strict policies for any violation or abuse of human rights, child-labor laws and factory-safety standards. Connor is the only company in the sourcing industry recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies; most recently, for the eighth year in a row.

To learn more, please visit www.weconnor.com. 

About Omega Compliance

Every day, many of the world’s most trusted brands put their faith in Omega as they endeavor to work with suppliers who operate ethically, securely and free from corrupt practices.

Omega goes beyond supply chain monitoring. With a network of teams stationed across the globe, we provide deep expertise in navigating local challenges, as well as broader industry issues such as supply chain corruption, human trafficking and unauthorized subcontracting. With an industry-leading anti-corruption program, and client services in Hong Kong and the United States, Omega places its partners at the center of its business. We pride ourselves on delivering excellence with flexibility, attention to detail and unparalleled integrity.

To learn more, please visit www.omegacompliance.com.

Media Contact for Ethisphere
Aarti Maharaj​
​[email protected]
@Ethisphere​​

Media Contact for William E. Connor & Associates Ltd.
Vicky Leung
[email protected]

Media Contact for Omega Compliance Ltd.
Winnie Kam
[email protected]

Source: Ethisphere

Data and Leading Practices on Maximizing the Impact of Managers and Why It Matters

NEW YORK, July 09, 2019 (Newswire.com) – ​​​​​Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing standards of ethical business practices, today announced the official release of volume three of its Insights Report series, “Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Managers,” which highlights the important role managers play as ethical leaders to help companies achieve optimal cultures of ethics and compliance.

This report is based on responses from multinational companies to Ethisphere’s 2019 Ethics Quotient ® and global Culture Quotient (CQ) datasets. The Ethics Quotient dataset is comprised of leading programs and practices codified into measurable elements.

The global CQ dataset currently includes responses to key questions around ethical culture including perceptions of program resources, organizational justice, and willingness to report—from more than 475,000 employees from over 50 companies, representing the views of over three million employees.

This is the first-time Ethisphere is releasing a report highlighting the correlation between the two datasets which is a proven guide for companies to measure program effectiveness.

Previously released volumes of the Insights Report focused on issues such as detection and monitoring, governance, written standards, the growing influence of ethics and compliance in the C-suite, the cost of compliance for highly regulated industries and how leaders address ethics and compliance across a global organization.

Volume three, which was released during a webcast in June titled “Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Managers: Insights into the Practices of the 2019 World’s Most Ethical Companies,” concentrates on important themes that include:

• Why Managers Matter: The Importance of the Manager
• Training and Awareness: Manager Training Practices
• Cultivating Managers as Effective Ethical Leaders

“We are in a new data-driven world where we are asking managers to do more and more—which means that reminding them of their critical role as ethical leaders is more important than ever. Our data provides a great foundation for that conversation, emphasizing why they matter so much,” Ethisphere Executive Vice President Erica Salmon Byrne said. “Volume three of our Insights Report series provides a window into how companies are doing this effectively. We offer these insights with the hope that companies will gain valuable awareness that will enable them to measure and improve their compliance programs and make the business environment better and stronger for commerce across the globe.”

• Key insights from the most recent report include:
• The vast majority of employees—92 percent—responded affirmatively when asked whether they would raise a concern if they witnessed misconduct. Of the reasons cited for that strong willingness to hypothetically report, “it is the right thing to do” is the leading reason, followed by “corrective action is necessary” and “my manager would support me.” In contrast, of those who said that they would not be willing to report observed misconduct, 54.4 percent said they fear retaliation, while nearly 50 percent said they do not believe corrective action would be taken. Almost 12 percent said that they would not know whom to contact to report the misconduct.
• Strong communication from managers dramatically impacts perceptions of a culture of compliance. Among respondents who said they “never” discuss ethics and compliance with their manager, only 40 percent believe that their senior leadership acts ethically, compared to approximately 90 percent who “frequently” discuss these topics with their manager. Roughly 50 percent of those who do not discuss ethics with managers are uncomfortable approaching their manager about ethics issues. Conversely, nearly 100 percent of those who frequently have these discussions say they’re comfortable approaching managers with questions or concerns.
• Seventy-three percent of respondents said that their companies provide all managers with training about encouraging and supporting compliant and ethical conduct, while 25 percent said only some managers receive such training. Two percent said no managers are trained in this way.
• In response to logistical challenges, just 26 percent of respondents said that 81-100 percent of training is delivered in-person, while one-quarter said that only 1-20 percent of training was done in-person. Four percent said that none of their manager-specific training is delivered in-person.

“The impact of managers on a wide array of culture-related perceptions uncovered in this report is dramatic, yet one thing remains universally clear: in today’s hyper-aware environment where consumers and investors double as ethics monitors, the value of these facts cannot be overstated. Simply put, the next time someone asks you why you should train managers on ethics and compliance, let this data be your guide,” Byrne said.

To download all three volumes of the World’s Most Ethical Companies Insights Report, click here.

All Ethisphere research, content and expertise, such as recent special reports and data-driven insights, can be found on the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) member hub, which is available to global members of BELA. To request guest access, please contact Executive Vice President Jonathan Whitacre at [email protected].

About Ethisphere 

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere also helps to advance business performance through data-driven assessments, benchmarking and guidance. More information about Ethisphere can be found at https://ethisphere.com.

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Media Contact:
​Aarti Maharaj​
​Director of Communications
​[email protected]
@Ethisphere