Beyond tone from the top: Driving a culture of ethics and compliance to engage managers and employees

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Paul Gennaro, senior vice president and chief communications officer, AECOM, discusses how to promote a culture of integrity at AECOM’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

Focusing beyond “tone from the top” presents a difficult challenge for many ethics and compliance professionals – especially for global companies with middle management and employees from many locations, time zones and cultures.

According to a recent NYSE Governance Services thought leadership roundtable discussion held at AECOM’s headquarters in Los Angeles, which featured Eric Morehead, senior compliance counsel, NYSE Governance Services, and Paul Gennaro, senior vice president and chief communications officer, AECOM, the return on investment on an effective ethics and compliance program can be seen when employees understand and are actively involved in promoting a culture of integrity.

“Ethics and compliance should be woven into the DNA of an organization,” said Gennaro. “People want to transact with a company they believe in, which is transparent and ethical.”

This year, AECOM marked its fourth annual Ethics Week, which is seen as a time for the company to celebrate its commitment to acting ethically and with integrity.  The theme of this year’s Ethics Week — “The Right Stuff @ AECOM: What Does Ethics Mean to You?” — encouraged employees to discuss on Chatter, an internal microblogging tool, and on social media, what ethics and an ethical workplace really mean and why they are important.  The annual tradition was shared with AECOM’s new colleagues from URS, Hunt, and ACE, and began with an all-employee audio message from CEO Mike Burke. This was followed by the announcement of the winner of AECOM’s social media-inspired photo and caption contest.  The winner received US$1,000 in funding to a charity of his choice.

As part of AECOM’s ethics and compliance training and development, employees from around the globe can review the winning and finalist submissions to help facilitate their understanding of why ethics and compliance are important across the company’s global operations.

“Employees need real examples in order to take ethics seriously,” added Gennaro. “Through consistent messaging and ongoing communication we are able to advance ethics in the workplace.” To highlight this, during Ethics Week AECOM hosted two dial-in sessions for employees around the globe, titled “Strengthening the World’s Infrastructure by Promoting Ethics in the Public & Private Sectors,” which featured Martin Kreutner, dean and executive secretary of the United Nations’ International Anti-Corruption Academy, the first global institution of its kind, dedicated to overcoming current shortcomings in knowledge and practice in the field of anti-corruption. Employees who participated in this event were eligible to earn anti-corruption and other educational credits.

Furthermore, during the NYSE Governance Services roundtable discussion in Los Angeles, attendees engaged with industry leaders, shared best practices, and gained real insight into what other organizations are doing to enhance and extend their ethics and compliance programs.

Gennaro and Morehead noted that meeting the growing demands of a complex and often daunting legal environment means that companies should try to enforce a culture of ethics and compliance through setting the appropriate tone in the middle.

Managers, for example, play a very crucial role in the reporting process. They should be aware of the resources available to them and have a solid understanding of procedures that are in place at the company. This way, they are better equipped to have a proactive conversation with an employee.

“Managers serve as an important conduit for the important reporting that goes on within an organization,” said Morehead. “For example, one new trend we are seeing is, where appropriate, companies now keep managers informed during the investigation process so they can provide meaningful updates to the employee who initially made the report”.