Ethical culture matters

The Eight Pillars of An Ethical Culture

Ethical culture matters – to employees, investors, and all stakeholders. Companies that have strong values-based cultures are better places to work and well-poised for long-term success. In this Special Report, we focus on the foundational elements of an effective and sustainable culture, which we have consolidated into the eight pillars of an ethical culture.

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Employees

Do your employees understand what is expected of them when it comes to ethical behavior?

Questions

Do they know where to go if they have questions, and if they need help or have made a mistake?

Trust

Do they trust the reporting process enough to engage in it? Or do they fear retaliation or lack of an appropriate response?

Ethical culture matters

The Eight Pillars of an Ethical Culture

Ethisphere defined these key pillars with input from experts, ethics and compliance leaders from our Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and also by considering guidance by international organizations and regulators. We distilled this into Ethisphere’s Culture Quotient (CQ) assessment, a survey that has been used by top global companies to determine employee perceptions of the organization’s culture of compliance.

PILLAR ONE

Awareness of the E&C Program and Resources

PILLAR TWO

Perceptions of the Function

PILLAR THREE

Observing and Reporting Misconduct

PILLAR FOUR

Pressure

PILLAR FIVE

Organizational Justice

PILLAR SIX

Perceptions of Managers

PILLAR SEVEN

Perceptions of Leadership

PILLAR EIGHT

Perceptions of Peers and Environment

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Organizations typically use the data in our Eight Pillars Of Ethical Culture to identify those locations where that challenge of distance seems largest, and then review with local leaders the extent to which they are engaging in storytelling when sharing goals with employees. Do they explicitly talk about ethical decisions they have made or how they might handle a given situation? Do they challenge behavior appropriately? Do employees see that behavior that is not in line with the stated values of the organization is addressed? Download the E-Book today to answer these questions!