Press Release June 23, 2008 Ethics Training Reduces Employee Misconduct and Conflict of Interest
The Ethics Resource Center Employer Survey Reports That Companies Who Adopt An Enterprise-Wide Ethical Culture See A Dramatic Reduction In Misconduct
June 23, 2008 -- For Immediate Release --
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- According to the 2007 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES), the rate of employee misconduct is cut by three-fourths at companies with strong ethical cultures, and violation reporting is doubled at companies with comprehensive business ethics programs. An employer survey from the Ethics Resource Center reports that companies who adopt an enterprise-wide ethical culture see a dramatic reduction in misconduct.
An ethical workplace requires that all employees remain aware of and accountable for the implications of their actions, relationships and business practices. “The Center’s survey confirms what our clients are seeing in their workforce,” said Sondra Solovay, an employment and discrimination law attorney at Workplace Answers, a Web- based compliance training company. “Training employees to recognize ethical issues and how to respond to situations appropriately fosters a work environment where violations are more likely to be reported and resolved responsibly.”
The NBES report also showed that most employers had yet to commitment the time and resources to ethical policy training. However, there are new legislative and regulatory trends that will require many organizations to have an ethics and compliance training program in place. The Office of Management and Budget now requires many government contractors to establish a code of business ethics and conduct and implement training programs. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) became effective in December 2007, and contractors that fail to implement training and controls face the risk of contract termination or sanctions.
Workplace Answers offers customizable training that reflects an organization's unique work environment and provides employees with ethics training that includes relevant, real-life scenarios. Two new training courses recently released, Ethics in the Workplace and Ethics for Public Employers, provide business ethics training that enhance employees’ ethical problem-solving skills. Pertinent, interactive, scenario-based ethics training provides the means for matching an organization’s principles to its practices. Solovay describes Workplace Answers’ approach as “providing an organization’s employees the experience of confronting the ethics-related issues most significant to their workplace.”
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