Many surveys that measure the impact of programs and policies to instill a culture of Ethics and Compliance in an organization miss one important mark: most often, these surveys ask no more than a couple of questions about ethics and embed them in a large study of corporate culture. This understates the importance of having a corporate climate that recognizes the role of employees in assuring they value ethical behavior and are on board with corporate goals for compliance.
By conducting a survey dedicated solely to Ethics and Compliance, an organization gains more pertinent and actionable guidance for knowing what to do to assure a culture of ethics and compliance (and whether it’s working) than it does by asking these few ethics questions.
One large multinational corporation, Avon, relied on The Melior Group, a specialist in survey research, for its important measurement of ethics and compliance culture. From the survey, Avon learned where its associates need additional training, developed benchmarking metrics for use to measure change, and better understood employee perceptions of the firm with regard to ethical compliance.
Since the survey is conducted by an objective third party, and employees are assured confidentiality of responses, management receives an honest assessment of its communication and implementation programs as well as perceptions of management adherence with Ethics and Compliance policies.
In a recent Inside Counsel article, Richard Davies, Vice President of Legal and Compliance at Avon, shared that an objective standalone employee Ethics and Compliance survey was one of three intertwined methods he recommends an organization use to create and sustain a culture of compliance. The Melior Group created and has conducted this annual survey for Avon since 2013.
For the complete article: http://www.insidecounsel.com/2014/11/18/the-avon-way-creating-and-sustaining-a-culture-of
For more information on Melior’s Ethics and Compliance Survey programs: Contact Sindey Dranoff at [email protected]