Communications is Key to Ethical Business & Leadership

A research study on ethical behaviour has revealed that communications are vital to ensuring consumer trust and brand reputation. The study was conducted by EthicOne, and its partner, the Ethisphere Institute. Both of these companies  aim to promote best business practices in ethics and compliance. The study used data from over 100 companies that were deemed to be global leaders in ethics, based on criteria such as corporate reputation, culture, transparency and values.

Here are some of the key findings from the report:

• 96% of companies ranked most ethical have a documented compliance and ethics communications plan.  
• 75% of the companies studied are seeing top execs communicating regularly with employees about ethics policies and company values.
• 71% of the companies studied reported that CEOs and other c-suite execs are more engaged on matters including ethics than they were three years ago.

No matter the size of your company, ethics communications will always be a priority for business strategy. Building trust internally among employees, and externally among consumers is a key driver of brand engagement and stakeholder engagement. In order to ensure that your company attains the status of an ethical company, the leadership team must ensure that ethics is built into the business strategy from the top-down.