Ethisphere and Ethena Team Up to Launch Ethical Management Course 

New training aims to help middle managers understand their critical role in promoting integrity, encouraging a speak-up culture, and making ethical decisions in real-world scenarios

BROOKLYN (April 16, 2025) — Ethena, who offers modern compliance training and tools that do more than check the box, and Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, announced the launch of a co-created ethical management training course designed for middle managers. The course aims to help mid-level managers, who play an outsized role in reinforcing a company’s commitment to integrity, encourage a speak-up culture and drive ethical decisions in real-world scenarios.

“Middle managers play a pivotal role in shaping workplace culture – they’re the ones setting the tone for their teams and ensuring company values translate into daily actions, while also navigating ethical gray areas,” said Roxanne Petraeus, CEO and Co-Founder of Ethena. “But without effective training, middle managers might unknowingly reinforce behaviors that create a culture of silence around misconduct. We saw the need to design a course that guides ethical decision-making for this crucial group of managers, and Ethisphere was the perfect partner to create it with.”

Research shows that when managers lead with ethical integrity in the workplace, employees follow. A report from Ethisphere underscores how impactful managers can be when they actively engage with their teams about ethics and compliance – employees in these environments are twice as likely to feel comfortable raising concerns and 24% more likely to feel a personal responsibility to ensure the company does the right thing. The research also highlights the importance of equipping managers with the right tools and training to effectively handle misconduct reporting; direct managers remain the most common reporting channel when raising a concern, with the vast majority (64%) going directly to their manager. 

“The expectation for companies to lead with integrity goes far beyond avoiding legal consequences—it’s a proven driver of long-term value,” said Erica Salmon Byrne, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair of Ethisphere. “Organizations that embed ethics into the culture of the organization see measurable outcomes: stronger financial performance, enhanced employee loyalty, increased consumer trust, and elevated brand reputation.”

Ethena and Ethisphere’s Ethical Management course helps mid-level managers take concepts from theory to practice with tips they can use to make an immediate impact on their teams. The course is complete with three sections: 

• What is Ethical Management? This section starts with an introduction to ethical management, exploring the business impact of ethical behavior for middle-managers and leadership executives.
• Creating a Speak-up Culture: Managers learn how they can set the right tone, foster open communication within their teams, and encourage employees to report concerns without fear of retaliation.
• Psychological Safety: This section defines psychological safety, why it’s essential for high-performing teams, and how managers can create an environment where employees feel safe to share ideas and concerns.

As convenient as it is effective, the course takes only 15 minutes to complete, is available in multiple languages, and can be accessed on mobile devices. Like all of Ethena’s courses, training content is highly customizable to reflect the company’s workplace, values, and brand colors. 

Companies can learn more about the course and preview it here.

About Ethena

Ethena provides innovative, effective compliance training and tools for companies. Instead of just checking a box, Ethena training builds ethical and inclusive company cultures while providing admins with a seamless software experience to navigate the increasingly-complex web of compliance training requirements. Companies who use Ethena have access to a modern library of 150+ customizable course modules, an employee hotline, case manager, and phishing simulator. Ethena is trusted by People and Compliance teams at Airbnb, Zendesk, Pinterest, Notion, BetterUp, and more. 

The company was founded by Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen, who drew upon their diverse backgrounds in the U.S. Army, consulting and startups to reinvent the antiquated world of compliance training. Learn more at www.goethena.com.

About Ethisphere

Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that strengthen corporate brands, build trust in the marketplace, and deliver business success. Companies turn ethics, compliance, and culture into a business advantage by leveraging Ethisphere’s data-driven program and culture assessments featuring the latest guidance and the practices of hundreds of global organizations across the 8 pillars of an ethical culture, and 240+ ethics, compliance, social, and governance data points delivered through a proprietary software platform. Ethisphere also honors superior integrity programs through World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition, brings together a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and advances ethical business practices through the Global Ethics Summit, Ethisphere Magazine and the Ethicast podcast. For more information, visit Ethisphere.com.