Does your organization or company have a culture of integrity? More to the point, do you even know what it means?

If it sounds a bit fuzzy, you’re not alone.

Here’s one way of picturing it: When you go into work each day, is it a place you’re proud of, where management does the right thing when confronted with ethical decisions?

Or is it the opposite, where moral issues are dismissed, and employees suffer silently in an environment of fear, loathing and frustration?

Photo courtesy Canadian Career Partners
Kim Bechtel outlines concrete steps to creating a corporate culture of integrity.

Kim Bechtel, client services manager at Canadian Career Partners of Calgary, says in the past few decades too many employees have lived the latter scenario.

“I think a lot of North Americans have been sitting around, (knowing) what they see in their company every day isn’t right,” Bechtel says.

“But I think they’ve also reached a point where they’ve had enough. People are saying, ‘I live by the rules . . . I try to have my kids grow up in a certain way and I don’t want them working in a corporation of the type I’ve existed in the past 20 or 30 years.’”

In the last six months Bechtel has worked with a number of large organizations seeking advice and trying to better understand corporate integrity.

They’re doing it for a couple of reasons. Some want to become employers of choice and earn a reputation as a stand-up company.

Others are being driven by compliance – through legislation including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, recent Criminal Code amendments to Bill C-45 (also known as the Westray Bill) and pending legislation being developed by Canadian securities commissions.

Earlier this year, some organizations took note when Canadian securities commissions drafted a made-in-Canada version of Sarbanes-Oxley that directly referred to cultures of integrity.

The reference has since been removed, but it gave potentially affected boards of directors plenty to ponder.

“It said they would have to attest to the integrity of the senior executive team of the organization,” Bechtel says.

“And they would have to report on an annual basis on the work the executive team had done in the previous year, and what it was planning on doing in future years toward building a culture of integrity.”

The draft sparked debate. More than one executive asked what a culture of integrity looked like, and if their company already had one, what it might need to do to close any gaps.

As a practical guide, Bechtel offers an interesting checklist of items that any business might consider to establish, maintain or improve their cultural integrity. They are:

* State corporate values in clear, results-oriented language. Remember that such statements have been recently used in Canadian courts to assess the degree to which the behaviour of the company has lived up to these value statements.

* Create a code of ethics that describes how employees are to make decisions regarding situations that contain ethical considerations.

* Distribute both the values statement and the code of ethics to employees, their families, customers, shareholders, regulators, joint venture partners, service providers and contractors.

* Describe clearly what will happen should anyone breach the code of ethics. Make sure that such consequences are applied consistently.

* Establish an independent whistleblower system, similar in operation to the employee assistance concept, with a 1-800 number where anyone can submit information regarding a breach of any law or the code of ethics by anyone connected with the company. The anonymity of anyone contacting the whistleblower line must be protected.

* Routinely audit non-financial activities within the company. Review documents and correspondence related to employee performance, suggestion programs and terminations to identify possible breaches of the code of ethics or value statements. Require managers and supervisors to support decisions not to forward or highlight concerns or issues raised by employees. As in other areas of life, failure to comply in non-financial policy areas is likely indicative of non-compliance in financial areas.

* Recognize and reward ethical behaviour by managers and employees. Champion programs that support the values and ethics described by the company. Recognize and discuss frequently the difference between making honest mistakes and lying, cheating and stealing.

Discipline or dismiss anyone found doing any of the last three, regardless of what position they hold in the company.

* Create an ombudsman position that can receive, review and make recommendations regarding breaches of company values and ethics.

* Implement policies and programs, such as privacy protection or respectful work- place practices, which enhance an integrity environment for the company.

* Operate daily within the framework of the values and ethics of the company. Every decision and action of the company should be viewed through these lenses.

Bechtel acknowledges it’s a big list, something to aspire to over time in a strategic manner. In fact, he says that any executive suddenly dropping such a list on its organization might face more questions about “what has it been doing wrong,” rather than approaching the process as a positive step forward.

While some companies have installed ombudsmen, begun doing non-financial audits, hired directors of corporate social responsibility or installed whistleblower hotlines – all positive moves – Bechtel suggests a grassroots approach to begin.

As a starting point, companies might begin the process by helping employees in day-to-day working situations, such as engaging staff in conversations about the ethical decisions they face at work.

A worker might feel that he’s sending out a piece of work that is only 80 per cent as good as it might be. Although the work satisfies company standards, the employee believes it’s being pushed out the door too soon, simply to make a bigger profit.

“The employee is saying, ‘My parents taught me values and they said to do it right, but that’s not what’s happening here,’” Bechtel explains.

A company that listens to the complaint and acts on it will win the loyalty of its employees – and customers. Done on a daily basis, it’s a step toward integrity.

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(Mike Dempster can be reached at miked@businessedge.ca)