The State of Ethics and Compliance in the Workplace – Article Review
Compliance is a firm’s conformity with applicable laws and regulations, while business ethics help employees make efficient decisions within a short time. The Ethics and Compliance Initiative can be used by organizations to develop and maintain high-quality ethics and compliance programs. The Ethics and Compliance Initiative (2018) conducts research and certifies members. This paper aims at summarizing the 2018 ‘State of Ethics and Compliance in the Workplace’ report by the Ethics and Compliance Initiative and pointing out a company with a firm ethical policy.
Based on responses from over 39,000 Americans, this report summarizes ECI’s most recent findings regarding ethics and compliance. All participants were at least 18 years old, and they worked a minimum of 20 hours per week in a business with at least 2 employees. Except for 2009 data that was not available, participants had different educational backgrounds. ERC developed the sampling procedures and questions. Participants were selected randomly. The data was then weighed according to age, gender, and education. This information could be obtained by phone or online. Online responses weren’t considered for the 2013 and 2017 surveys. The national and professional standards were used to analyze the data. This report focused on the four key outcomes the initiative considered indicators of organizational good conduct. They all depend on the company’s integrity priority. Integrity is more significant than any other priority. It is less common for employees to report misconduct and feel pressured to violate ethical standards. Reporting misconduct is done without fear and with no retaliation. Based on the findings of surveys conducted over seven years, ECI grouped the results as good, bad, and very bad news (Ethics & Compliance Initiative, 2020).