Tags: Speak Up, Decision-making, Code of Ethics
An assessment of the Codes of Ethics of the UK’s leading companies.
Codes of ethics are an important tool for companies to express their ethical culture, provide guidance for employees and set stakeholder expectations. This new report takes stock of the codes of the FTSE 100. We find some excellent practice, but also plenty of room for improvement.
Key findings of the research are:
- Only 46 codes were rated as ‘good’ by the IBE
- 19 FTSE 100 companies have no publicly available code
- Less than half (48) companies had up-to-date codes reviewed in the last three years (IBE recommended best practice).
Simple but effective improvements that many companies could make include:
- Add a clear endorsement of the code by senior leadership
- Explain clearly how people can speak up if they have any ethical concerns
- Set out what people can expect from the speak up process and include a clear commitment to zero tolerance of retaliation
- Include effective guidance for employees, such as a decision-making framework, FAQs, and real examples of ethical dilemmas.