Code of Conduct

A Code of Conduct is essential for any successful business. It sets the standards of expected behavior for employees and provides them the information they need to act with integrity in the workplace and in compliance with laws, regulations and company policies.

But a Code of Conduct is not a “once and done” kind of thing, so if you created yours when your company was founded 25 years ago, it’s time for a re-write. A code is a living document that needs to be updated to reflect changing times (for instance, if you haven’t updated your code in the last three years, you are probably missing a crucial part on social media…).

Download Our White Paper: Build an Ethical Culture with Your Code of Conduct

We are experts at writing and refreshing Codes of Conduct and we would love to help you with yours. We have written the Codes of Conduct for some of the most successful brands in the world. Here are a few we wrote that we would love for you to check out:

Yahoo! – Code of Ethics: Winning with Integrity
Dell – Code of Conduct: How We Win
Cisco – Code of Business Conduct: Connecting with Our Values
Newell Rubbermaid – Code of Conduct: Growing with Integrity
Curo Health Services – Code of Conduct and Ethics: Doing What’s Right
Edwards Life Sciences – Global Business Practice Standards: The Titanium Book
TE Connectivity – Code of Ethical Conduct: Connecting with Our Values
JP Morgan Chase & Co. – Code of Conduct: Integrity – It Starts with You

An effective Code of Conduct is not a list of legal mandates or compliance jargon. It is a professionally designed document that is written in clear, concise language that will help your employees understand their ethical responsibilities. Our work has earned multiple awards including an “A” rating by a panel of experts from Ethisphere, a council of independent ethics professionals. Here are the key features of a well written code:

Easy to Read, Easy to Understand – Is your current code effective? Does it address the issues employees face on a day-to-day basis? We specialize in writing codes of conduct which use a tone that complements your organizational culture and employee demographics.
Designs that Engage – Is your code boring? Created by award-winning experts, our high-impact designs deliver. Call-outs that feature high-level information, pull-quotes for added emphasis, company-specific questions and answers that draw employee attention to key points and dramatically increase usability. We strictly adhere to your corporate branding standards.
Making Your Code Accessible – Bring your code online to further leverage its use. The Network can transform your print-version code into a computerized, interactive version with one-click links to more detailed company policies, reporting tools and contact information. Easy online navigation from your corporate intranet gives your employees instant access to your code and the information they need for ethical decision-making.
Making Your Code Global – Our comprehensive translation services ensure sensitivity to any cultural nuances and are tailored to reflect country-specific information, legislation and regulations.

Training Your Employees on Your Code of Conduct

One of our most popular eLearning courses is our “Code of Conduct Overview”, which essentially brings your code to life for your employees and tests their knowledge of its key topics. Further, we offer Learning Blocks, which are small pieces of training content on specific topics, such as Conflicts of Interest or Anti-Corruption, so you can go deeper in any areas you wish. You can essentially build your own code training with Learning Blocks.

By giving your employees our Code of Conduct training, you can verify receipt and review of the Code by every employee. The system can track compliance for each employee from a single interface, identify those who have not yet certified and even send e-mail reminder notifications to ensure 100% compliance.