Ethics policies
Do you maintain an effective ethics policy at your firm?
Compli-Serve SA recently spent some time fine tuning a number of ethics policies for different types of financial services provider.
Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy
The purpose of a Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy is to commit the company, its subsidiaries and its employees to the highest standards of ethical conduct.
The Ethics Policy comprises a short, aspirational summary outlining the company’s core ethical values, ideals and principles. The Code of Conduct, on the other hand, is more directional in nature in that it is very specific in describing or forbidding specific behaviour. In essence, the Ethics Policy is value-based, whereas a Code of Conduct is more rules-based.
This document combines the Ethics Policy and Code of Conduct for the Group, thereby providing guidelines for all employees to do the right thing and behave at high standards at all times. It also provides employees with concrete ideas about what is right and what is not accepted in the workplace, without the need for constant management presence to supervise them.