It's Earth Day - How's Your CSR? Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable manner. Because today is Earth Day 2015, and this is the only planet we've got (that makes chocolate), there's no better day than today to ensure your corporate social responsibility policy is built into your code of conduct.
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose" - Dr. Seuss Establishing compliant and ethical behaviour among the masses, and regulating against non-compliance is a big step in the fight against fraud and abuse. All organizations have their own unique plan in operating their businesses and achieving success, but there's a similar foundation that sets the base of any effective program, in any industry.
Are You Considering Implementing a Whistleblower Hotline? There's much to take into account regarding features and benefits of an ethics hotline. Today's environment has fraud, negligence, abuse of power, and more very prevalent, or so it seems.
Many businesses fear that when they launch a new Code of Conduct, or whistleblower hotline, there may be employee pushback. There's also fear that such things may create their own cluster of issues like managing internal investigations, employee discipline, and retaliation. Rarely does implementing a hotline receive employee pushback. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Not only do these reporting mechanisms satisfy the mandate of Sarbanes-Oxley for public companies, and the credibility for non-profits and private organizations, management can look better in the eyes of because they are seen as taking a stand against workplace misconduct, and valuing employee feedback.
Why do some good employees commit fraud? We've seen in the ACFE's Report to the Nations findings that the higher the perpetrator's level of authority, the greater the fraud losses tend to be. It goes to say that many white collar crimes aren't committed by 'hardened criminals', but instead these crimes are being committed by people who are under severe pressure from management or shareholders.
Employees look to leadership to guide them on how to engage in the correct behaviour A number of years ago, Bernie Ebbers, co-founder of WorldCom said this: A Proposed Code of Ethics "Was a Colossal Waste of Time". We all know where that statement got him and the company. Every employee under Mr. Ebbers got the same message - find creative ways to make the numbers work.