By: Evie Wentink, Principal, Ethical Edge Experts
While we’ve made significant strides in Compliance, the journey is far from over. While we can celebrate our progress in the Culture of Compliance in recent days, we must confront the remaining gaps. True success means reaching the finish line by ensuring everyone [every employee] can cross it together. By that, we mean that every employee understands the Company Culture [of Integrity] and the Compliance Program. The magic trick is to continue to improve the Compliance Program and Company Culture.
When I started working after college, my first official job at a large corporation in 2003, was a little over 20 years ago. At this company there was no Compliance Program, as it was visible to me: nothing official, centralized, or uniform. At that time, I worked for an international manufacturing company’s Legal Department; we didn’t have a Compliance department or a hotline. I don’t remember that we had a Compliance Officer, a code of conduct, a code of conduct training, or anything about policies, and I worked in the Legal Department, so if anyone should have known, it should have been me. Compliance was not a thing twenty years ago, at least not yet.
Companies were riddled with the culture of business over everything else including compliance, ethics and values; coupled with not worrying about doing the right things; there were and still are many examples, from safety violations, sexual harassment, fraud, and bribery to antitrust violations and more.
In 2006, I worked at a new company; there was a General Counsel who also had the role of a Chief Ethics Officer. At this company, we had some elements of a compliance program; it was the beginning. We had a hotline that was a regular phone line to the desk of the General Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer, we had a reporting structure to the board of directors, and one-page kind of code of conduct. At some point during this year, we started discussing the different concepts of a code of conduct, calling for rewriting the code as the new third-generation code; we also discussed training, multi-year/multi-level plans, compliance communication plans, hotline provided by third parties, speak-up campaigns, and more over time. We did not have an official “Compliance Department”, but eventually, I earned the title of Compliance Manager/Senior Paralegal and began to manage the company’s Compliance Program.
We [Legal/Compliance Department] also worked on policy reviews that Human Resources managed, especially concerning employees, such as time off, travel and entertainment, and other benefits policies. Operations departments managed policies regarding operations, and finance had in place policies that had to do with the company’s financial affairs; every aspect of “compliance” was in a silo of each department, with a department head mostly territorial in nature. I will never forget this instance: the Chief Ethics Officer and I started to coordinate training to inform the employees, especially sales, about Antitrust Laws; since “training” was mainly coordinated by the HR training manager, we had to coordinate with her. We were met with some resistance since the Chief Ethics Officer held a higher rank; eventually, the resistance [maybe unwillingly] eased.
I was hired to establish the Compliance Program at my next company after the company experienced legal consequences for an Antitrust Violation; some executives went to prison, and one was assessed for the longest sentence for this crime.
We implemented the seven pillars of Compliance while changing the company’s culture by establishing a Compliance structure at each subsidiary company. Direct reporting lines to the board of directors were established, strong tone from the top, and we memorialized a concrete structure around this program. It was an ongoing process. We created a 360-degree Compliance Program, and when I left the company for another opportunity at a new company, I expected the same: the same level of tone from the top, the structure, the budget, and so on. I quickly learned that not all companies have the same level of support for Compliance Programs.
It is time to level up in 2025. Although we have come a long way in the last twenty years, continued efforts are necessary. The ground zero—the benchmark—should be the Ethical Values and Ethics and Compliance Program, which are the minimum requirements for everyday business.
We need a world where Compliance and Ethics are the virtues of everyday business in large, medium, and small companies. Ethics and Compliance [Values and Programs] must be front and center from the beginning of employment with a company, and all job applicants and employees expect it every step of the way. Every business, new opportunity and or process should be given a compliance lens consideration; compliance shall be a part of the conversation from the beginning of a new opportunity, process, or a problem. Like I said before it should be the standard not the exception. Many compliance professionals, like me, understand that this is important: having a Compliance Program and the Values of doing the right thing should be the standard and the beginning of every engagement. We [our society] need to be in a place where this [Compliance Program] is expected and is supported by all employees, at the top, accepted in the middle, and the rest of the employees.
It’s time to level up Compliance [Programs] in organizations, which should be the norm, not the exception. We must do better and expect more.
I recently participated in the IBECC: The International Business Ethics Case Competition as a judge, where young students from all over the United States and Mexico came and presented their ethical cases, where they researched the cases and provided recommendations for solutions. Most of these students were in the process of getting their business bachelor’s or master’s degrees. When [these] students are ready for work opportunities, they will expect a Culture of Compliance. How about the students who are entering workplaces and aren’t business majors? These students do not receive ethics training because most courses are “Business Ethics.” Our goal should be to continue raising ethics and compliance awareness across all majors. There is value in creating a curriculum for ethics courses for the general student population, and it is even worth considering expanding it to high school students. Consider calling it the Life Skills Ethics or Workplace Ethics.
In the year 2025, organizations should be expected to deliver [Values and Culture of Integrity] to attract and retain great talent and business.
We know that Ethical companies want to do business with other companies where Ethics and Compliance are essential, which is suitable for growing business. Recently, an organization called Ethisphere released a list of 2025 World’s Most Ethical Companies; these companies are an example of where companies want to be – among the champions of Ethics and Compliance.
It’s time to expect Ethics, Compliance and Integrity and nothing less.