Building a Strong and Ethical Organizational Culture

Building and Maintaining a Strong Organizational Culture

From attracting top talent to keeping employees motivated and engaged, ethical companies have a proven business advantage. For a risk and compliance program to be truly successful, it must not only meet legal requirements; it must also align with and support organizational culture, as well as its mission, goals, traditions and norms.

Building a strong organizational culture doesn’t happen overnight. Risk & compliance officers intent on creating a culture of respect face big challenges, but it can and should be done. Culture starts with the tone at the top, a code of conduct and training, but those things alone don’t build a culture of ethics and respect. Culture is organic, manifested by how employees act and treat others, and how they support your organization’s purpose and values. An ethical culture empowers and encourages employees to do the right thing. Sustaining an ethical culture takes continual awareness and communication. Beyond messaging, culture also has to manifest in the actions of your workforce and in the tone of your workplace.

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Code of Conduct

An engaging code of conduct that conveys your company’s values, expectations and key messages.

Policy Management

A system that ensures your employees read and sign your corporate policies, including your code of ethics.

Safe Way to Speak Up

A secure and anonymous channel through which employees and third parties can report concerns.

Report Management

Tracking of reported incidents of misconduct so you spot issues early and address them head-on.

Process

Processes in place for managers to handle open door reports and employee complaints.

Training

A multi-year, risk-based and engaging training plan for employees and managers that changes behavior.

Assessment

An assessment of your current culture which includes employee feedback.

Awareness

Ongoing reminders to keep your compliance program top of mind, including posters with your hotline number.

Step 1

Define your culture by create a strong Code of Conduct that engages and inspires employees. Make sure all employees read, attest to, and fully embrace your code from the top down with a policy management system.

Step 2

Ensure you are capturing potential issues and handling them in an appropriate way with an externally hosted hotline and incident management system.

Step 3

Teach all your employees what an ideal culture looks like – especially your board and executives - and present real-world scenarios to inform them on how to act in ethical situations with engaging online training.