Why ethics? Reputation is one good reason. However you define it, reputation embodies the perception of employees, consumers, vendors, investors, and partners, and it has significant value to your entity. When any of us is evaluating a portfolio investment, items at the grocery store, a college for a son or daughter, or a charity to give our money to, reputation holds major sway in our decision.

It makes sense, then, that boards of directors and other overseers are adding measures of reputation to the traditional financial indices as a key indicator of performance.

Among the elements which contribute to making up this all-important image is an entity’s culture, or “the way we do things around here.” A healthy culture must involve a commitment to ethics education, which in turn stems from a set of values which set forth the attitudes and conduct employees are expected to adopt in their jobs.

We all strive for a perfect culture, but as we know, human beings aren’t perfect, and our reputation management strategy must take this into account. In addition to all the many employee communication strategies employed, a sound reputation management process must include an excellent ethics education program, the cornerstone of which is a web-based set of courseware such as Rules + Values offers.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines strongly encourage education, by way of structuring fines for misdeeds. Companies can be granted mitigation credits when they can demonstrate a concerted and continuous effort to educate employees about their rules and values. This is done through code of conduct training and a variety of other communication. Did you know that fines for misdeeds could be reduced by as much as 95% if you have demonstrable measures in place prior to the wrongdoing to educate employees and preclude such activity? The ethics course modules Syrus brings you also meet the standards set by the European Commission and other regulatory authorities across the globe.

"Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it."
Publilius Syrus
100 B.C.