Ethics & Employees

• CSR Europe Promotes Age Management
• Employers Demonstrate Labor Best Practices
• ILO Emphasizes the Business Role in Stopping Forced Labor
• Integrity Guidelines at The New York Times
• Building Incentives In Your Compliance and Ethics Program
• Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality
• 100 Best Companies for U.S. Working Mothers
• Recruiting Ethical Employee

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CSR Europe members call on companies and policymakers to facilitate active age management in the workplace

CSR Europe, together with a group of global companies, call on businesses and policymakers to take leadership in tackling demographic change in Europe by promoting active age management and better integration of older employees in the workplace. Focusing on the issue of wellbeing at work, the group provides practical advice for companies and outlines examples of current corporate practices in this area. It also appeals to the European Union and national governments to work on a more harmonized legislative framework to facilitate the recruitment and employability of older citizens in the European Union.

Initiated by CSR Europe and led by Johnson & Johnson, the two-year ‘CSR Laboratory’ project brought together companies from various sectors to identify current challenges and business practices related to the ageing workforce and the development of wellbeing policies addressing the specific needs of older employees.

The working group, which included companies such as:

Accor Services, BASF, Dow, Randstad, Solvay andVolkswagen, engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to develop a set of practical tools that can be used by other companies and organisations to further develop their own age management strategies.

These tools include:

·         Tips for implementing a company policy on ‘Lifelong Wellbeing in the Workplace’

·         Collection of corporate practices on wellbeing in the workplace for older employees

·         Call for a more harmonized legislative framework to facilitate active age management in the EU

As a result of the project, the group stressed that demographic change is inevitable, but its adverse impact on employment and competitiveness in Europe can be mitigated. However, turning current demographic trends into a business opportunity and ensuring sustainable social and economic development across Europe requires a shift in attitudes and behaviour towards older employees. To better integrate the ageing population into the European labour market, concerted efforts by all players in society are needed. 

In particular, the group identified the current lack of a harmonized legislative framework across the European Union as an impediment to successful active age management.  All EU Member States have different laws regarding issues such as pensions, retirement age and the possibility for those who have retired early to re-enter the workforce, which makes it challenging for employers who operate across national borders to effectively facilitate the integration and wellbeing of older employees in the workplace. In this respect, the European Union plays a key role in promoting a more harmonized approach towards the recruitment and employability of older citizens.

Posted 04/06/2010

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Celebrating Labor Day in America:
Employers Demonstrate Labor Best Practices

American Rights at Work profiles 10 groups of employers from across America

Unlike the many organizations who have created various blacklists of companies operating irresponsibly, the American Rights at Work group has compiled a list honoring groups of employers for their exceptional collaboration with their own employees.  The American Rights at Work Education Fund, which is directly responsible for creating the list, is an outreach organization dedicated to promoting the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively. 

The organization noted the diversity in the number of industries and geographic locations profiled in this year’s list.  The organization says of the employers represented, “by fairly compensating employees and sharing decision-making responsibility with them through unions, these employers prove that embracing such a forward-thinking business model is a smart, ethical, and successful strategy.”

The profiled employers were chosen based on excellence in at least one of the following areas:

• Collaborating as equal partners with workers and their unions to craft innovative strategies on compensation, performance, and productivity to meet business goals and address challenges.
• Providing sustainable wages or progressive increases and worker-friendly benefits
• Creating new jobs and implementing employee-retention strategies
• Protecting workers’ safety and health
• Fostering diversity and inclusion in the workforce
• Offering training and professional development opportunities
• Contributing positively to the broader community
  
  

The following list is a snapshot of the profiled companies.  To read a more about these employers’ accomplishments, please visit the American Rights at Work website.

The 2008 Labor Day List

	Zahner Company, architectural metal company Kansas City, Missouri	Creates innovative architectural structures with a respected union workforce
	Alabama Power, electric utility company Birmingham, Alabama	Workplace safety and strong union partnerships are its top priority
	Delta Construction Corporation, contractor Kapolei, Hawaii	Outstanding collaboration with workers and their unions
	DMAX-Ltd., engine manufacturer Moraine, Ohio	Keeps jobs at home and improves workplace productivity
	Gamesa Technology Corp., wind turbine manufacturer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Creating “green-collar” jobs and respects workers’ rights
	Justice Clothing, retailer Bangor, Maine	Produces socially-conscious products made in America
	Maimonides Medical Center, hospital Brooklyn, New York	Exemplary employee and management collaboration has the reputation for providing the best patient care
	State of Kansas, state government Topeka, Kansas	A model for how public employers should protect the rights of state workers
	Team Industries, Inc., pipe fabricating company Kaukauna, Wisconsin	Achieved renewed success through collaboration with the workers’ union and dedication to employee training
	Washington National Opera, premiere opera company Washington, DC	Committed to improving working conditions and opportunities for artists

Posted 8/27/08

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ILO Emphasizes the Business Role in Stopping Forced Labor

Report includes highlights of ILO initiatives to train business leaders to guard against forced labor and human trafficking

At the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking, the International Labor Organization (ILO) sponsored several working sessions on what key entities could do to help curb the growing problem of forced labor around the world. The discussions were compiled into one report as a way of encouraging businesses to become aware of this serious problem.  The ILO cites that 12.3 million people are currently victims of forced labor, and human trafficking accounts for 75 percent of it.  Industries with complex supply chains as well as difficult and dangerous industries where it’s hard to recruit employees are particularly vulnerable to forced labor practices.  Other industries can be tainted by these activities indirectly, the report said.  Hotels, entertainment venues, airlines, transportation companies, visa and travel agencies, and Internet operators are all subject to coming in contact with human traffickers.  These industries should be particularly on guard against trafficking, the ILO states. 

The lack of regulation in the labor market has made forced labor difficult to stop.  Pressure to reduce taxes and government spending has meant less labor inspectors.  Consumer driven initiatives also have their limits due to a lack of information and the difficulties involved in monitoring labor movement. 

Businesses have a greater responsibility to develop policies within their own supply chains to ensure they are not involved in forced labor practices.  On the employee side, the International Trade Union Congress developed an action plan to help stop human trafficking.  The points include:

• Promoting the ratification and effective implementation of ILO Conventions on forced labor and other relevant Conventions
  
  
• Addressing forced labor and trafficking issues in bipartite and tripartite negotiations and agreements
  
  
• Promoting political and material support within trade union organizations for the development of policies against forced labor
  
  
• Monitoring of employment agencies as well as companies, including their supply chains, to detect and combat forced labor and trafficking practices
  
  
• Bilateral, sectoral or regional trade union cooperation agreements, and appropriate alliances or coalitions with civil society organizations having recognized expertise and experience in relevant areas
  
  
• Cooperation with labor inspection services, law enforcement and other relevant national, regional or international authorities or inter-agency working groups
  
  
• Outreach and direct support to informal, unprotected and migrant workers at risk, to address their specific situation and needs, including through their integration in trade union ranks.   

On the employer side, many businesses should be addressing forced labor in their corporate social responsibility programs, a trend which is growing, the ILO stated.  The ILO has worked to create training manuals on identifying forced and child labor for employers in subcontracting and recruiting in China, raised awareness in Russia among construction employees about migrant workers, and helped train garment exporters in Jordan and charcoal producers in Brazil. 

Overall, the ILO states employers must encourage an ethical culture throughout the company and provide business leadership through public-private partnerships to combat forced labor more effectively. 

Posted 9/22/08

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Ethics in the News Room

The Integrity Policy at The New York Times

In his final article as the Public Editor of The New York Times, Byron Calame wrote on May 6, 2007 that it is important to consider the newspaper's own reporting and editing standards. He noted that the Times did develop an ethics handbook in 2004 after a scandal, but that a less-norticed 1999 statement is even more specific and worthy of consideration.

This statement reads as follows:-

The New York Times
Guidelines on Integrity

Reporters, editors, photographers and all members of the news staff of The New York Times share a common and essential interest in protecting the integrity of the newspaper. As the news, editorial and business leadership of the newspaper declared jointly in 1998: "Our greatest strength is the authority and reputation of The Times. We must do nothing that would undermine or dilute it and everything possible to enhance it."

At a time of growing and even justified public suspicion about the impartiality, accuracy and integrity of some journalists and some journalism, it is imperative that The Times and its staff maintain the highest possible standards to insure that we do nothing that might erode readers' faith and confidence in our news columns. This means that staff members should be vigilant in avoiding any activity that might pose an actual or apparent conflict of interest and thus threaten the newspaper's ethical standing. And it also means that the journalism we practice daily must be beyond reproach.
No one needs to be reminded that falsifying any part of a news report cannot be tolerated and will result automatically in disciplinary action up to and including termination. But in a climate of increased scrutiny throughout the news business, these further guidelines are offered, to resolve questions that sometimes arise about specific practices:

Quotations. Readers should be able to assume that every word between quotation marks is what the speaker or writer said. The Times does not "clean up" quotations. If a subject's grammar or taste is unsuitable, quotation marks should be removed and the awkward passage paraphrased. Unless the writer has detailed notes or a recording, it is usually wise to paraphrase long comments, since they may turn up worded differently on television or in other publications. "Approximate" quotations can undermine readers' trust in The Times.

The writer should, of course, omit extraneous syllables like "um" and may judiciously delete false starts. If any further omission is necessary, close the quotation, insert new attribution and begin another quotation. (The Times does adjust spelling, punctuation, capitalization and abbreviations within a quotation for consistent style.) Detailed guidance is in the stylebook entry headed "quotations." In every case, writer and editor must both be satisfied that the intent of the subject has been preserved.

Other People's Reporting. When we use facts gathered by any other organization, we attribute them. This policy applies to material from newspapers, magazines, books and broadcasts, as well as news agencies like The Associated Press (for example, "the Senator told The Associated Press"). In other words, even though The AP is a co-op and we are members, we do not treat its reporting as our own. When writing from a pool report, if we have not witnessed the events, we attribute them to the pool reporter. In a roundup, we may use a phrase like "reports from news agencies and New York Times bureaus."

Our preference, when time and distance permit, is to do our own reporting and verify another organization's story; in that case, we need not attribute the facts. But even then, as a matter of courtesy and candor, we credit an exclusive to the organization that first broke the news.
Attribution to another publication, though, cannot serve as license to print rumors that would not meet the test of The Times's own reporting standards. Rumors must satisfy The Times's standard of newsworthiness, taste and plausibility before publication, even when attributed. And when the need arises to attribute, that is a good cue to consult with the department head about whether publication is warranted at all.

In those cases when it makes a difference whether we directly witnessed a scene, we should distinguish in print between personal interviews and telephone or E-mail interviews, as well as written statements.

Fact Checking. Writers at The Times are their own principal fact checkers and often their only ones. (Magazine articles, especially those by nonmembers of our staff, are fact-checked, but even magazine writers are accountable in the first instance for their own accuracy.) Concrete facts' distances, addresses, phone numbers, people's titles' must be verified by the writer with standard references like telephone books, city or legislative directories and official Web sites. More obscure checks may be referred to the research desk. If deadline pressure requires skipping a check, the editors should be alerted with a flag like "desk, please verify," but ideally the writer should double back for the check after filing; usually the desk can accommodate a last-minute repair. It is especially important that writers verify the spelling of names, by asking. A person who sees his or her own name misspelled in The Times is likely to mistrust whatever else we print. And too often, our correction column makes it clear that someone has guessed a spelling by the sound.

Corrections. Because our voice is loud and far-reaching, The Times recognizes an ethical responsibility to correct all its factual errors, large and small. The paper regrets every error, but it applauds the integrity of a writer who volunteers a correction of his or her own published story. Whatever the origin, though, any complaint should be relayed to a responsible supervising editor and investigated quickly. If a correction is warranted, fairness demands that it be published immediately. In case of reasonable doubt or disagreement about the facts, we can acknowledge that a statement was "imprecise" or "incomplete" even if we are not sure it was wrong.

Rebuttals. Few writers need to be reminded that we seek and publish a response from anyone criticized in our pages. But when the criticism is serious, we have a special obligation to describe the scope of the accusation and let the subject respond in detail. No subject should be taken by surprise when the paper appears, or feel that there was no chance to respond.

Anonymity and Its Devices. The use of unidentified sources is reserved for situations in which the newspaper could not otherwise print information it considers newsworthy and reliable. When possible, reporter and editor should discuss any promise of anonymity before it is made, or before the reporting begins on a story that may result in such a commitment. (Some beats, like criminal justice or national security, may carry standing authorization for the reporter to grant anonymity.) The stylebook discusses the forms of attribution for such cases: the general rule is to tell readers as much as we can about the placement and known motivation of the source. While we avoid automatic phrases about a source's having "insisted on anonymity," we should try to state tersely what kind of understanding was actually reached by reporter and source, especially when we can shed light on the source's reasons. The Times does not dissemble about its sources' does not, for example, refer to a single person as "sources" and does not say "other officials" when quoting someone who has already been cited by name. There can be no prescribed formula for such attribution, but it should be literally truthful, and not coy.

Fictional Devices. No reader should find cause to suspect that the paper would knowingly alter facts. For that reason, The Times refrains outright from assigning fictional names, ages, places or dates, and it strictly limits the use of other concealment devices.

If compassion or the unavoidable conditions of reporting require shielding an identity, the preferred solution is to omit the name and explain the omission. (That situation might arise, for example, in an interview conducted inside a hospital or a school governed by privacy rules.) If a complex narrative must distinguish among several shielded identities, it may be necessary to use given names with last initials or, less desirable, given names alone (Hilary K.; Ashley M.; Terry). Descriptions may serve instead (the lawyer; the Morristown psychotherapist). As a rare last resort, if genuine given names would be too revealing, real or coined single initials (Dr. D, Ms. L) may be used after consultation with senior editors. The article must gracefully indicate the device and the reason.

Masquerading. Times reporters do not actively misrepresent their identity to get a story. We may sometimes remain silent on our identity and allow assumptions to be made to observe an institution's dealings with the public, for example, or the behavior of people at a rally or police officers in a bar near the station house. But a sustained, systematic deception, even a passive one taking a job, for example, to observe a business from the inside may be employed only after consultation between a department head and masthead editors. (Obviously, specific exceptions exist for restaurant reviewing and similar assignments.)

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White Paper by Joseph Murphy of
Compliance Systems Legal Group
 for the
Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

In his white paper for the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) - an international, non-profit dedicated to improving corporate governance, compliance and ethics - Joseph Murphy, a partner at Compliance Systems Legal Group in Rhode Island, USA, discusses the importance of integrating incentives into compliance and ethics programs and outlines the ways to do this. He writes that, “although incentives are an essential element of compliance and ethics programs, surprisingly little attention has been paid to this topic, as compared to other elements such as codes of conduct, helplines, training, and recently, risk assessment.”

According to Murphy, however, the reasons for including incentives far outweigh complying with government and industry regulations and standards (which he covers) and cut to the heart of human behavior and corporate culture: “The point is a simple one that is intuitive. People tend to do what gets rewarded. This is how organizations communicate what management values most highly. Employees look to see who gets promoted and who gets passed over, who gets the bonus and who is ignored.”

Murphy begins the paper by refuting the most common objections for integrating incentives into compliance systems. These include arguments that:

- People should not be rewarded for doing their jobs;
- It is impossible to evaluate employees’ virtue or ethics;
- Compliance and ethics are too subjective, unlike sales or production;
- There is risk of use against the company in litigation;
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) Concerns exist;
- The compliance and ethics people should stick to their own business.

He goes on to explain three major reasons for using incentives:

- U.S. Government Standards;
- Other government and industry standards;
(such as the UK’s Governments Office on Fair Trading; Australia’s national standards organization, Standards Australia; and the UK’s Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct); and
- Practical behavioral reasons.

Finally, Mr. Murphy discusses several types of incentives in detail. He offers useful considerations and concrete suggestions for implementing them. These topics include:  

- Personnel evaluations;
- Monitoring and input on promotions;
- Including compliance and ethics input in all company rewards/incentive systems
- Rewards and recognitions;
- Rewards and recognitions for compliance and ethics staff; and
- Cautions for, and restraints in, rewarding whistleblowers.

To download the full paper, which is open for comment, click here.

Posted 1/30/07

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Human Rights Campaign Foundation Releases
2007 "Best Places To Work For GLBT Equality"

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC Foundation), the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights organization, released its annual list of the “Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality” on January 8, 2007. The “Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality” seal, this year given to 142 companies, is awarded to corporations who score a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, which measures policies and practices implemented to promote fairness and equality in the workplace for GLBT employees.

On the HRC Foundation’s website, the companies are divided according to 27 industries and are rated in detail on factors such as: Policies; Benefits; Transgender Benefits; Diversity Training; GLBT advertising, sponsorship or philanthropy; and Engagement in corporate action that would undermine the goal of equal rights GLBT people.

According to Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, “This is our version of the ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ showing that these 142 companies have a philosophy of inclusion and are committed to fairness and equality for all Americans.”

The HRC Foundation reported that 2006 was a historic year for equality advancement in the workplace. Among its findings:

• The number of corporations designated “Best Places to Work” went from 101 in 2005 to 142 this year. The number scoring a perfect 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index has grown tenfold in the last four years.
  
  
• For the first time ever, more than half of Fortune 500 companies now provide equal benefits for their GLBT employees’ partners.
  
  
• More than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies now have policies in place that prevent workplace discrimination based upon sexual orientation, and 24 percent include gender identity.

To see a complete listing of companies please visit: www.hrc.org/placestowork.

Posted 1/29/07

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Working Mother Magazine Releases 100 Best Companies for U.S. Working Mothers

Working Mother  magazine released its annual list of the top 100 places to work for working mothers. According to Working Mother CEO Carol Evans, there has been an improvement in corporate benefits for working mothers in the U.S. with more and more companies offering customized schedules as a means of holding on to female employees. "There are some very, very creative ideas, and this is all related to what we saw in the past, with women dropping off the edge of a cliff, when they said it's either working full time or not at all," Evans said. The magazine used five criteria in assessing the companies: flexibility, leave time for new parents, child care, elder care and the number of women occupying top jobs.

This years Top 10 Best Companies for Working Mothers

1. Abbott
2. Bon Secours Richmond Health System
3. Ernst & Young
4. HSBC-North America
5. IBM
6. JPMorgan Chase
7. Patagonia
8. PricewaterhouseCoopers
9. Principal Financial Group
10. S.C. Johnson & Son

For the complete list and information on the companies listed, follow this link.

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Recruiting Ethical Employees: A Guide For Recruiters and Job Seekers

While more and more work is being done in the field of managing employee ethics within companies, less discussed is the issue of how to use the hiring process to recruit ethical employees. According to the Business Rountable's Institute for Corporate Ethics (see below), recent research shows that only one in 20 corporate recruiters includes ethics inquiries when interviewing job candidates. In addition, recruiters report that a rising number of job applicants act unethically during the interview process, such as embellishing a résumé or reneging on a job offer.

Patrick Murphy, a professor of marketing and co-director of the Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide, at the University of Notre Dame, has published a brief guide for job seekers and recruiters on the ethics in the recruitment process, which includes sample questions for interviewers aimed guaging the ethics of interviewees and a list of several ethical pitfalls of the recruitment process. The project was co-sponsored by the Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide, the fellows program of the Ethics Resource Center, a non-profit leader in workplace ethics, and the Business Roundtable's Institute for Corporate Ethics, a research organization focusing on the link between ethical behavior and business practice.

To view the report follow this link.
 

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