A recent post by Roxanne Petraeus in Corporate Compliance Insight states, “There’s basically an inverse correlation between talking about having an ethical culture and actually having one. And while the mechanism is unclear, my theory is that there’s a danger in thinking that by communicating your ethics or commitment to a speak-up culture, you inadvertently think you’ve built that culture, so you simply check the task off your list.”
Petraeus describes two key elements to building a speak-up culture:
- Good design – Employees should have the sense that the company invested in quality, not thrown together or bought off-the-shelf without customization. No font from the early part of this century. Training and communication products should look like the company cares.
- Trained managers – Most reports are passed through managers rather than hotlines/speak-up lines. Managers need to be trained on how to handle these often-delicate matters. Managers must also regularly engage in messaging and training. Employees need to hear from their bosses that ethics and respect in the workplace is important.
These two elements are essential to creating a culture in which employees feel comfortable and confident raising concerns and trusting the organization to appropriately handle and respond.
Read Petraeus’ piece here.
