Introducing an ethics hotline into your company? Introductions can be awkward. Introducing a new system into your company can be fraught with challenges. And blank stares... Many times employees are happy with the way things are rolling along and wonder why rock the boat? Other employees welcome new ideas.
Don't retaliate, do reward, do investigate... Thanks for reading! Okay so we'll expand on that a little bit more. We came across an article that referenced a group of researchers that set out to isolate actionable factors that contributed to an ethical organization. It's a pretty broad spectrum to classify. Many would think an ethical organization is made from ethical leadership, how they serve the environment, or what their mission and vision is. But this research team came up with three measurable factors that any organization an use to improve their ethics.
Should you consider an internal, or external ethics reporting system? If you are considering implementing a whistleblower hotline, there's much to take into account regarding features and benefits of an outsourced program compared to an internal system. Things to think about are budget, resources, and implementation plan, training and report review, response and analytics. What policies and codes need to be developed to support the system? What types of reporting do you need? How do you measure success? And of course, how important is an anti-retaliation policy?
As any employee knows, the work environment is subject to many of the same ethical challenges that we face in society. With different types of people, and many different cultures and personalities, unethical behaviour can, and does arise from time to time.