Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest-running podcast in compliance. In this episode, I am joined by Erica Salmon Byrne, the CEO of Ethisphere, to discuss the company’s recent “2023 Ethical Culture Report: Lessons from the Pandemic.” Erica shares that the report found a significant uptick in reported cases of bullying, likely due to masking feelings with the anonymity of a keyboard. While an employee’s direct manager is most often the first avenue for employees to report concerns, other forms of reporting weren’t utilized due to a fear of retaliation. Erica suggests that companies need to make it easy for employees to communicate broader ethical issues, as doing so will result in a tripling of employee faith in the system.
Key Highlights:
· The Impact of the Pandemic on Bullying Incidents
· Reasons Younger Employees Don’t Speak Up When Witnessing Unethical Behavior
· Creating a Speak Up Culture in the Workplace
· Improving Communication Between Employees and Managers
· Reporting Issues to Managers: Examining the Results of a Recent Report
· The Importance of Managerial Leadership in Ethical Decision Making
· The Importance of Making it Easier for Employees to Report Issues
Notable Quotes
1. “Employee willingness to raise their hand stayed pretty steady.”
2. “It’s a lot easier to be a jerk behind a keyboard than to be a jerk to somebody’s face.”
3. “The reason we have non-retaliation language in our code is that information is a gift.”
4. “Think of the information as a gift, practice thinking of the information as a gift, and then your responsibility as the manager is to listen and follow up.”
Resources:
Ethisphere Resources
Connect with Erica Salmon Byrne
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