Stifling the business

The Ethics & Compliance professional…

• Provides advice and guidance to employees with concerns or questions
• Writes policies and provides training to protect the organization and its employees
• Conducts audits and investigations to ensure that policies are implemented and followed
• Protects employees who are the target of retaliation
• Implements controls to prevent fraud
• Protects the reputation of the organization by stopping conduct that is lawful but awful
• Instils a sense of pride in employees who want to work for an organization that does the right thing
• Allows the organization to attract candidates whose values are aligned with its own
• Focuses on the long term in a world of quarterly results

And because of that last bullet, E&C professionals are often accused of stifling the business.

Those who make these accusations actually believe that their organization would be better off without us. They are the descendants of those who, decades ago, did not want to provide safety training and equipment to employees because it was cheaper to replace an injured worker with an able one. Today, they want to open millions of fake bank accounts, they want to sell cars with cheating devices in their emission system, and they want to jack the price of life-saving drugs.

And they find it difficult when E&C professionals get in the way.

So frustrating.