Ethical Conduct Policy

Ethics are important in running whether small or large corporations. Business owners need to understand the ethical issues, while dealing with their employees and public (Leonard, 2019). In case of ethical violation, business owner needs to address the problem quickly. With the prevalence of social media, companies and business owners need to respect and not penalize employees in the event of whistleblowing through social media channels or reporting to regulatory authorities. Instead, corporate policy of encouraging the awareness of ethical violations at workplace will improve the ethical posture of company internally and externally. For example, Yelp employee was fired on his blog regarding poor working conditions at Yelp (Leonard, 2019). It would have been appropriate for the Yelp management to reach out to employee and setup internal channels to improve the working conditions or any other issues. This would have set a positive image of Yelp for not only employees by resolving the grievances through appropriate internal channels, but also would have improved the public image in general due to corporate transparency, trustworthiness, and accountability.

Ethics in accounting practices is another important aspect, which can otherwise have severe regulatory and legal consequences. Bookkeeping practices needs to be accurate. Accurate recording of financial records, tax payments, profits etc. will not only bolster corporate financial governance posture but also attract more business and investments (Leonard, 2019). In case of Enron, the oil giant was misrepresenting their profits in their financial books; lead to stock crash, huge financial loss to stockholders, and bankruptcy. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was enacted to protect public shareholders with strict requirements of financial reporting (Leonard, 2019).

TOMS is a footwear company, with a philanthropic aspect to its core (Shewan, 2018). The company was established with giving in mind, which is why they have donated 60 million pairs of shoes to children in need all over the world. They have started giving away 400,000 pair of glasses to people with lack of ophthalmological care. The company is also working on clean water initiative, birthing kits to expectant mothers in developing nations, and training for birth assistants. In an essence, all products offered by TOMS has a social and environmental aspect to it (Shewan, 2018).

Salesforce (2019) has been popular for its friendly employee, ethical policies and philanthropy. The company regularly donates $260 million in the form of educations grants and research. It also offers discounted services to 40k+ non-profit, K-12 and higher education organizations; the service is rightly named as Philanthropy Cloud (Salesforce, 2019). Employees are encouraged to be active in the society, by giving away six days paid holidays for any kind of charitable work of their own choice. To date, 3.8 million+ community hours are performed by Salesforce employees. Salesforce is ranked highest in employee satisfaction and retention, with good perks in the form of high salaries and benefits.

SAS Institute is another software company famous for encouraging their employees to volunteer at various charities and also contribute to non-profit program where employee volunteers (Shields, 2013). Company support educational programs, promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program for children. SAS strive for community and team building by supporting intramural sports leagues. In general, SAS boasts high employee satisfaction, renowned for benefits, and has never layoff employees (Shields, 2013).

References:

Shewan, D. (2018). Ethical marketing: 5 examples of companies with a conscience. Retrieved from https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/09/20/ethical-marketing

Leonard, K. (2019). Examples of ethical issues in business. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-ethical-issues-business-24464.html

Shields, A. (2013). Good business: 10 companies with ethical corporate policies. Retrieved from http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/consumer/articles/Good-Business253A-

Corporations-with-Great-Ethical/2/16/2013/id/48045

Salesforce (2019). Philanthropy Programs. Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.org/philanthropic-programs/