Building a World-Class Ethics and Compliance Program
Featuring: Beth Simon, Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer, Unum Group
BETH SIMON
Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer, Unum Group
Elevating Ethics Across an Organization
In this Spotlight, we’ll explore how Unum Group’s Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer, Beth Simon, created an ethics and compliance program that has been honored as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® and earned Ethisphere’s Compliance Leader Verification for its outstanding program and practices.
The Need
Unum Group, a leading employee benefits provider, desired to elevate its ethical culture and compliance awareness across its dynamic business environment. The company sought to build upon its program of fostering a robust speak-up culture, building strong partnerships across departments, and ensuring strategic alignment in risk management.
The Approach
Unum Group implemented a multi-faceted approach to elevate its ethics and compliance program:
Team Excellence
Unum Group prioritized the development of a strong ethical culture, with the ethics and compliance team playing a pivotal role. The company invested in a diverse and talented ethics and compliance staff, fostering collaboration with key partners such as Unum Group’s audit and risk teams.
Stakeholder Partnership
The team focused on building trust with stakeholders across the organization. By understanding the goals and initiatives of other departments, the ethics and compliance team aimed to position themselves as trusted advisors. This collaborative approach focused on communication and led to smoother collaboration when compliance or ethics challenges emerged.
Tone from the Top
Unum Group emphasized the importance of a supportive tone from senior leaders, who played a pivotal role in disseminating the compliance and ethics message. The support of senior leaders and their active involvement in promoting ethical practices contributed significantly to the success of the program.
Inclusive Collaboration
Unum Group engaged in inclusive collaboration by involving executives from various functions outside of ethics and compliance, such as HR, communications, and IT. Specific and targeted requests were made, supported by toolkits and talking points, ensuring active participation and support from across the organization.
What is the value of the Compliance Leader Verification status and World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition?
“It’s a differentiator in the marketplace when you have two equally qualified employee benefit providers. Sometimes, it comes down to who you trust. And when you have a company like Unum Group that can point to validation from an external party like Ethisphere, it really does make a difference.
When people are making decisions, our customers want to know that they are dealing with a company that’s doing the right thing.”
Beth Simon Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer, Unum Group
The Results
Unum Group’s strategic approach to ethics and compliance resulted in significant outcomes and recognition:
Compliance Leader Verification
Unum Group earned recognition for its outstanding program and practices, receiving the Compliance Leader Verification from Ethisphere. This designation involved a comprehensive review, evaluation, and validation of Unum Group’s ethics and compliance program.
World’s Most Ethical Companies
Unum Groupis honored to be a multi-year recipient of the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition, helping set the standard for ethical business practices and further solidifying its commitment to a compliant and ethical culture.
Marketplace Differentiation
The recognitions served as a differentiator in the marketplace, providing validation of Unum Group’s commitment to ethical practices. This was particularly valuable when competing with peer companies, external validation helps build trust with customers.
Stakeholder Value
Both Compliance Leader Verification and World’s Most Ethical Companies recognitions are valuable to all stakeholders, emphasizing Unum Group’s dedication to serving customers, communities, and employees with integrity.
Advise for Replication
“Make sure that you have the right people on your staff with the right skill set. I am very fortunate to have a great team.
I love going back to the basics and pointing to the Department of Justice guidance for corporate compliance programs as a guidepost for how you think about your program.
Assess your company’s compliance and ethics risk. It’s going to look a little bit different for everybody, but that really helps you point your resources in the right direction.
And then I would say, build those partnerships. Really invest in that early and often.
And finally, communicate, communicate, communicate. People take for granted that doing the right thing comes naturally—and I think it does—but having that message out all the time, being delivered through various channels by different people, just makes it top of mind for employees, so they know how important it is to us as a company.”
ethical companies ⟶
Learn How Ethisphere can drive your Compliance Program Effectiveness
Our comprehensive Program Assessment looks at your corporate governance systems and ethics and compliance program. The result? A detailed findings report and executive presentation that identifies gaps and includes recommendations to reduce risk and improve business practices.
An Independent Verification of Your Program:
Ethisphere’s independent review of your company’s program and practices provides external validation of your organization’s commitment to business ethics and compliance. Compliance Leader Verification recognizes companies who’ve proven that their programs and practices are extraordinary, and provide mechanisms to help communicate this key differentiator to employees, customers, and investors.
