Situation:

Revised U.S. Sentencing Guidelines went into effect on November 1, 2004. The Guidelines require the development and promotion of culture that encourages ethical conduct; require standards and procedures to prevent and detect criminal conduct and place responsibility on the board of directors and executive management. Further, the Guidelines indicate that organizations who have “effective” ethics and compliance programs in place will be granted leniency should their organization be found guilty of misconduct.

Under the Guidelines, an organization can earn leniency in the event of sentencing based on several "mitigating factors". One of the most important mitigating factors is having a program "to prevent and detect violations of the law". The Guidelines detail seven criteria against which such programs are to be judged and these include the existence of standards or a Code of Conduct and training or other communication specific to the Code of Conduct...

The Code of Conduct or Code of Ethics is an organization’s policy statement and defines ethical standards for sound corporate governance. The Code of Conduct not only establishes the is a organization’s values, but also spells out essential practices, behavior, ethics, and business standards for all individuals who are employed by and represent the organization.

Once established, Codes of Conduct must be introduced with an effective communication and training program. Ethics and compliance program managers should establish a means to validate that all employees have received, read and understand the Code of Conduct. Such acknowledgement should be tracked in order to send a strong signal to regulatory and legal entities that the organization is making sufficient efforts to maintain an effective ethics and compliance program.

Solution:

Global Compliance assists organizations in developing and implementing Code of Conduct programs. We have extensive experience in:

• Review and editing of existing Codes of Conduct to develop a document that speaks to the entire employee demographic while maintaining corporate brand and identity
• Creating and producing communications materials to launch and promote the organizational Code of Conduct (Code of Conduct booklets, CEO letters, manager’s guides, posters, etc.)
• Translation of Codes of Conduct into up to 150 languages inclusive of cultural adaptation
• Coordination and distribution of the Code of Conduct to employees, vendors and stakeholders

Global Compliance also provides an online or interactive voice response (IVR)-based measurement vehicle to ensure that all employees have received, read and understood the Code of Conduct. Employees answer questions about the Code through a custom Web portal or an interactive voice response system. Managers are provided with real-time feedback on employee participation and scoring via a Web-based system that tracks and documents completion and comprehension.

Outcome: