Tag: Speak Up

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31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

One Month to a More Effective Compliance Program Through Culture: Day 10 – Improving Culture Through Investigations

Meric Bloch strongly emphasizes the importance of workplace investigations and fostering a culture of employee compliance. He believes that merely setting up a hotline and establishing policies is insufficient; companies must actively engage with employees to understand their motivations for speaking up or remaining silent. Bloch also underscores the need for accountability and a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of compliance programs. His experiences with multinational companies have shaped his understanding of the challenges they face, particularly the fear of being perceived as incompetent and the difficulties in reporting.

One of the key points raised by Bloch is the importance of making speaking meaningful and credible. He pointed out that companies often fail to communicate what should be reported, leading to confusion among employees. Bloch also highlights the lack of follow-up interviews and training for reporters as a problem. He stressed the need for organizations to engage with reporters and gather additional information to better understand the context and potential gaps in the initial report. Bloch also discussed the importance of addressing friction points within organizations. He mentioned that employees often hesitate to speak up due to concerns about the involvement of headquarters or fear of retaliation. Organizations must actively address these concerns and create an environment where employees feel safe and supported when reporting issues.

To create a culture of speaking up, organizations must move beyond passive measures such as hotlines and policies. They need to actively engage with employees, educate them about their role in the process, and provide clear guidance on what should be reported. By doing so, organizations can foster a culture of compliance where employees feel empowered to speak up and contribute to maintaining ethical standards.

Three key takeaways:

1. Your investigation process must go beyond simple policies and procedures.

2. Seeking additional information from a reporter will enhance the investigative process and your culture.

3. Remove friction points in the speak-up and investigative processes.

Do you want to improve your culture? How can you assess your culture and develop a strategy to improve it going forward? In this free webinar on the new tool, The Culture Audit with Tom Fox and Sam Silverstein, on Tuesday, November 28, 12 CT, For more information and registration, click here.

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Blog

The ROI of a Culture of Speak Up

We are now at a place where sufficient data, academic research, and actual use cases from corporations and businesses demonstrate that good ethics and compliance programs are not simply good for business, but when properly used, they lead to greater profitability.

For 15 years, Ethisphere has been collecting data around its World’s Most Ethical Company awards. Companies that receive this designation have been found to outperform their peers on various stock indices. Ethisphere calls this the “Ethics Premium.” Ethisphere Executive Vice President (EVP) Erica Salmon Byrne has noted, “In tracking how the stock prices of publicly traded honorees compare to the U.S. Large Cap Index, we found that listed World’s Most Ethical Companies outperformed the large cap sector.” In 2010, that number was a delta of 4.5%. Yet by 2020, that number had skyrocketed to 13.5%. Ethisphere has been on to something.

Academic research has also shown the efficacy of ethics and compliance programs. George Serafeim and Paul M. Healy demonstrated in their paper, An Analysis of Firm’s Self-Reported Anti-Corruption Efforts that companies with robust compliance programs do better financially in countries prone to corruption than companies with less effective compliance programs. Without a robust compliance program, even with high sales in a high-risk country, the sales will drop, leading to a negative Return on Equity (ROE) of between 24% and 30%.

Dr. Kyle Welch, Assistant Professor at George Washington University (GWU), in his paper, co-authored with Stephen Stubben, Associate Professor from The University of Utah, entitled “Evidence on the Use and Efficacy of Internal Whistleblowing Systems” (Report). In this paper, Welch and Stubben reviewed some 15 years of anonymized data from NAVEX Global, Inc. This data was from the company’s hotline reporting systems. Some of the key findings included that companies with a robust whistleblower and reporting system had greater profitability and workforce productivity as measured by Return on Assets (ROA), there were fewer material lawsuits brought against the company overall, and there were lower settlement costs if a lawsuit did occur. Finally, there were fewer external whistleblower reports to regulatory agencies and other authorities.

All of this leads to the key finding of reducing material litigation costs, and remember, this is not simply civil litigation but all reportable proceedings against a company, including regulatory enforcement actions, criminal sanctions sought by the Department of Justice (DOJ), and all other court proceedings. A material proceeding would have to be 5% of a company’s gross margin so the amount would be pretty high. Companies with robust whistleblower reporting systems also had 4% fewer pending lawsuits the year after increased hotline activity, improving to 6.9% fewer material lawsuits over the next three years. Additionally, overall litigation settlements of non-material matters dropped almost 20% over three years.

But the story does not end with data, numbers, or academic research. The corporate world is full of tales where a compliance solution was delivered, which made compliance more effective and improved business process efficiency and greater profitability. Data and information collected, which initially began as a compliance solution or project, can be used to improve business process efficiency. Delivering a compliance solution can enhance an overall business process. When you consider the compliance data points in every organization, from the Quote To Cash (QTC) sales cycle to the procure-to-pay (P2P) procurement cycle, you see how compliance can improve business efficiency and lead to greater profitability.

The bottom line is that creating a culture of trust that generates loyalty and passion generates productivity. Your employees are engaged and want to give their all. This means they seek opportunities to prove themselves by doing their best. Suppose you have a robust culture of speaking up, as discussed in this blog post. In that case, you will have motivated employees who can communicate business efficiency upgrades and new ideas for greater profitability.

Trust is a vital component of creating a productive and passionate company culture. Disrespect can damage trust and lead to a breakdown in employer-employee relationships. When employees feel trusted, they are empowered and motivated to give their best. This generates loyalty, passion, and productivity, creating a company culture that thrives and excels. Trust is morally right and financially smart, as it reduces worker disengagement and turnover costs. Having a robust ethos of speaking up in your organization will only drive better overall corporate culture.

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Innovation in Compliance

Breaking the Silence: How Speaking Up Enhances Corporate Cultures – Meric Bloch on How a Speak Up Culture Improves Compliance

Welcome to a special five-part podcast series on enhancing corporate culture through a great speak-up regime. This podcast series is sponsored by Case IQ. Over this series, Tom Fox will visit with Sharlyn Lauby, Jakub Ficner, Kenneth McCarthy, and Meric Bloch on the different facets of a great speak-up regime and how each of those facets will improve your corporate culture. They will tackle such topics as the indicia of a great corporate culture, the importance of triage and internal investigations in improving corporate culture, non-retaliation and protections for those who speak up, tying your entire system of speaking up to improving culture, and conclude with some thoughts on how an entire system of speaking up drives corporate culture to be better run and, at the end of the day, more profitably. In Part 4, Tom Fox visits Meric Bloch on how a robust speak-up culture will improve your compliance program.

Meric Bloch is an expert in workplace investigations with a rich background in helping corporate clients establish effective investigation programs. He is currently serving as an adjunct professor at Fordham University Law School. Meric strongly emphasizes the importance of workplace investigations and fostering a culture of employee compliance. He believes that merely setting up a hotline and establishing policies is insufficient; companies must actively engage with employees to understand their motivations for speaking up or remaining silent. Meric also underscores the need for accountability and a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of compliance programs. His experiences with multinational companies have shaped his understanding of their challenges, particularly the fear of being perceived as incompetent and the difficulties in reporting. Join Tom Fox and Meric Bloch on this episode as they dive deep into improving your compliance program through a speak-up culture.

Key Highlights:

  • Enhancing Corporate Investigations for Compliance and Accountability
  • The Impact of Cooperation on Reporters
  • The Impact of Meaningful Speak Up Culture

Resources:

Meric Bloch on LinkedIn

Winter Investigations

Case IQ

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Blog

How Triage and Investigations Can Drive a Culture of Speak Up

I recently concluded a podcast series with Case IQ. Over this series, I visited with Sharlyn Lauby, Jakub Ficner, Kenneth McCarthy, and Meric Bloch on the different facets of a great speak-up regime and how each of those facets will improve your corporate culture. We tackled such topics as the indicia of a great corporate culture, the importance of triage and internal investigations in improving corporate culture, non-retaliation and protections for those who speak up, tying your entire system of speaking up to improving culture, and will conclude with some thoughts on how an entire system of speaking up drives corporate culture to be better run and more profitably. This blog post series will expand on these topics. In Part 3, we consider why and how having an effective triage for reports and investigations can drive a culture of speaking up in your organization.

Jakub Ficner has over 15 years of experience in the internal investigative space and is currently the Director of Partnership Development at Case IQ. He strongly advocates for the importance of the triage process and technology in organizational compliance. He is a passionate and determined team player with experience in prospecting and implementing complex global solutions in various industries. Experience working in cross-functional and multi-cultural teams in Canada, the United States, Germany, and India. His specialties include business strategy and development, international management, ethics and compliance, investigation management, and global implementation strategy.

Jakub emphasized the need for organizations to consider the assessment and triage process before receiving complaints or allegations. This proactive approach allows for increased response time and the ability to set realistic stakeholder expectations.

One of the key points highlighted by Jakub is the importance of setting service level agreements (SLAs) to determine response times based on the nature of the allegation. This concept, borrowed from customer service practices, ensures that employees who come forward with complaints or allegations are provided with a clear understanding of the expected timeline for response and communication. By setting these expectations, organizations can foster a culture of open communication and trust.

The triage process is particularly important for multinational companies that operate across different regions. With varying compliance programs and regulations in different countries, having a well-documented process becomes essential. It allows compliance departments to navigate the complexities of compliance programs and investigations, ensuring consistency and adherence to local laws.

Technology also plays a crucial role in establishing effective compliance processes. Jakub points out that many organizations still need efficient documentation and tracking processes. Implementing technology, such as a case management solution, can help establish accountability and defensibility. It allows for establishing clear procedures monitoring performance and provides documentation that can be used to assess the effectiveness of compliance programs.

There is an overriding need for organizations to build accountability and defensibility into their compliance processes. By having a documented triage process and utilizing technology, organizations can ensure that complaints and allegations are handled promptly and consistently. This fosters a culture of speaking up and provides employees with the confidence that their concerns will be taken seriously and addressed promptly.

However, it is important to recognize the tradeoffs in balancing different factors when implementing a triage process and technology in organizational compliance. While efficiency and speed are crucial, organizations must also consider the need for thorough investigations and the protection of employee rights. Striking the right balance requires careful consideration and ongoing evaluation of processes to ensure continuous improvement.

In conclusion, the triage process and technology are vital in promoting a speak-up culture and ensuring organizational compliance. By proactively assessing and triaging complaints and allegations, organizations can increase response time and set realistic expectations for stakeholders. Implementing technology, such as a case management solution, helps establish accountability and defensibility. However, it is important to consider the impact on employee rights and the need for thorough investigations when making decisions about the importance of the triage process and technology in organizational compliance.

Join us tomorrow when we discuss closing the loop by improving your compliance program through a culture of speaking up.

Listen to Jakub Ficner on Innovation in Compliance here.

Categories
Innovation in Compliance

Breaking the Silence: How Speaking Up Enhances Corporate Cultures – Sharlyn Lauby on What is a Speak Up Culture?

Welcome to a special five-part podcast series on enhancing your corporate culture through a great speak-up regime. This podcast series is sponsored by Case IQ. Over this series, Tom Fox will visit with Sharlyn Lauby, Jakub Ficner, Kenneth McCarthy, and Meric Bloch on the different facets of a great speak-up regime and how each of those facets will improve your corporate culture. They will tackle such topics as the indicia of a great corporate culture, the importance of triage and internal investigations in improving corporate culture, non-retaliation and protections for those who speak up, tying your entire system of speaking up to improving culture, and conclude with some thoughts on how an entire system of speaking up drives corporate culture to be better run and, at the end of the day, more profitably. In Part 1, Tom Fox visits Sharlyn Lauby to consider what a speak-up culture is.

Sharlyn Lauby is a seasoned human resources professional with over 15 years of experience in various industries, including theme parks, hotels, and airlines. She strongly advocates for fostering a speak-up culture in the workplace, a perspective shaped by her extensive experience in organizational development and her role as the former vice president of human resources for a global consulting firm. Sharlyn believes that a speak-up culture is characterized by open and effective communication, where employees feel comfortable expressing their concerns and sharing their ideas. She emphasizes the importance of listening as a key leadership trait, the need for policies to protect employees from retaliation, and the crucial role of middle managers in creating a supportive environment. Join Tom Fox and Sharlyn Lauby as they delve deeper into this topic in this episode.

 Key Highlights:

  • Open communication and employee empowerment
  • Creating a Speak-Up Culture to Drive Positive Outcomes
  • The Power of Fair Processes in Organizations

Resources

Sharlyn Lauby on LinkedIn

ITM Group

Case IQ

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GalloCast

GalloCast: Episode 11 – CEOs Behaving Badly

Welcome to the GalloCast. You have heard of the Manningcast in football. Now we have the Gallocast in compliance. The two top brothers in compliance, Nick and Gio Gallo, come together for a free-form exploration of compliance topics. It is a great insight on compliance brought to you by the co-CEOs of ComplianceLine. Fun, witty, and insightful with a dash of the two brothers throughout. It’s like listening to the Brothers Gallo talk compliance at the Sunday dinner table. Hosted by Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance.

Football season returns to this brings another season of the GalloCast. Nick and Gio are both known for their outspoken nature and deep understanding of workplace dynamics, CEO-worker relationships, and ethical decision-making. Nick believes in the importance of ethical sourcing, labor and social responsibility, and community engagement in creating a beneficial workplace environment. He emphasizes the role of the compliance and ethics team in ensuring ethical practices and the balance between self-interest and the well-being of employees and stakeholders. On the other hand, Gio stresses the importance of authenticity and cultural change in improving workplace dynamics. He believes that a mere change in name or logo is not enough, there needs to be an authentic push by leadership to build a culture of integrity. Join Tom Fox and the Gallo brothers, Nick and Gio, on this episode of the GalloCast.

Key Highlights

·       Do workers need to see pain?

·       CEOs behaving badly. 2 top CEOs resign for having affairs with subordinates or outright harassment. Rubiales resigns.

·       Huge oil field discovered of Namibia. How should a company prepare?

·       SEC probes Musk corporate perks.

·       CBRE busted over pre-taliation. Why having the right contract language is important.

·       Will a name change for SNC-Lavalin help it overcome its corrupt past?

·       SCCE. What are you expecting?

 

Resources

Nick Gallo on LinkedIn

Gio Gallo on LinkedIn

Ethico

Tom Fox 

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Blog

Speaking Up is Awesome

We are on a run of some great, informative and incredibly useful books by some super star compliance professionals. A couple of weeks ago Mary Shirley released Level Up. In her book, Mary shared forward-thinking hacks and ideas to improve the effectiveness of your Ethics and Compliance program to build a stronger, winning function, honoring psychological safety. Her manifesto for Living Your Best Compliance life contained carefully curated tips and takeaways for optimum impact and immediate action, at low or no investment, because the typical Compliance Officer is not always flush with funds and tends to make do like a corporate MacGyver.

Next week Adam Balfour’s Ethics and Compliance for Humans will be released. (It is available for presale here.) In his book, Balfour, a well-known corporate compliance expert writes why ethics and compliance departments, HR and business leaders must keep people top of mind when designing and implementing ethics and compliance programs. The human-centric programs Balfour espouses resonate with and are highly relevant to their audiences. They not only consider the human experience, but also protect those who are—or might otherwise be—harmed by wrongdoing. Or as Carsten Tams might say, it’s all about the UX.

I am thrilled to be sitting between two such compliance luminaries with the release of my second children’s book on compliance Speaking Up is Awesome. This is the second in my three-book series about compliance for children. The first Being a Compliance Officer is Awesome was released last December and within its first week was a best-selling book for children on Amazon.com. Both books were published and illustrated by Dinosaur House.

Many years ago, when my daughter was a teenager, I asked her if she knew what a whistleblower was. I told her that when I person raised their hand and spoke up after they saw something wrong, that was being a whistleblower. Her response was “That’s what we call a rat.” I have long thought about her response (and she is long past being a teenager). I have wanted to try and change the narrative for teenagers and I feel like in this book Speaking Up is Awesome I have created a way to do so.

The book is the story of our intrepid crew traveling across the galaxy to Planet Pawtastic Friends, the dog rescue planet. On Planet Pawtastic Friends, dogs receive enrichment training so they can be adopted and move to their Fur-ever homes. In enrichment training, dogs train work with rescue dogs to make them ‘super-adoptable’. On their journey, one of the crew discovers something wrong with the engine but as she is not an engineer, she is worried the ship’s engineers will be mad at her; call her a rat and punish her by not letting her come to Thanksgiving Dinner. But she listens to her gut and decided she must tell the Captain about the problem.

It turns out the problem with the engine was quite serious and her speaking up saved the ship. She listened to her gut and she learned that by doing so, it can pay big dividends when you speak up. Not only did she potentially save the ship, but her suggestion made the spaceship run more efficiently and they were able to go farther by savings on fuel. Her example led the Captain to install an anonymous hotline so that other crew members could make reports of unsafe situations or even make suggestions on how to make the spaceship run better. Everyone on the spaceship learned that speaking up is awesome.

Just like my first book, this new book, Speaking Up is Awesome is aimed for the children, families and friends of compliance professionals. Or perhaps you could take hold of the suggestion of Carsten Tams who said that my first children’s book was an excellent guide for other corporate executives who might not fully understand the role of compliance in an organization. Whoever you might want to purchase my book for; it is designed to change the narrative about how children think about whistleblowers. If we can get a generational change in this dynamic, it will make companies better about doing business in compliance and with greater ethics. Moreover,  it will allow many companies to take their speak up culture to another level.

Kyle Welch, in his seminal work Evidence on the Use of and Efficacy of Internal Reporting Systems found that when companies had a culture of speaking up, they not only sustained material cost savings but they became better run companies. The reason was simple; engaged employees felt safe in raising their hands and speaking up. When they did so with such safety, these companies became better run. It seems straight-forward and Welch’s research affirmed this.

I hope you will check out and purchase a copy of Speaking Up is Awesome and we can all change the narrative for today’s kids. Just imagine a galaxy where kids felt like they could speak up and what it would mean for corporate America when they get into the workforce.

There is yet one more reason to purchase this book. Profits go to Pawtastic Friends, the dogs enrichment center founded by my good friends Michael and Melissa Novelli. They are literally changing dogs lives with enrichment training. Pawtastic Friends is the specified non-profit partner of the Compliance Podcast Networkand also check out their podcast, The Paw Talk which appears on the CPN. In this podcast, Mike and Melissa talk about dogs available for adoption and some dogs who have found their fur-ever homes. I hope you will consider a donation to Pawtastic Friends.

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FCPA Compliance Report

Erica Salmon Byrne – Information is a Gift

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

·      Ethisphere

·      2023 Ethical Culture Report

Connect with Erica Salmon Byrne

●      LinkedIn

Connect with Tom Fox

●      LinkedIn

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Creativity and Compliance

Speak Up and Creativity

Where does creativity fit into compliance? In more places than you think. Problem-solving, accountability, communication, and connection – they all take creativity. Join Tom Fox and Ronnie Feldman on Creativity and Compliance, part of the Compliance Podcast Network. In this  episode, we discuss how to use creativity your compliance communications to have a more effective compliance program by producing a more robust Speak Up culture in your organization. In a prior podcast, we established that a Speak Up Culture requires trust and that requires changing the social environment.

Some of the highlights include:

  • How do you change your organization’s social environment to create trust?
  • It is more than simply training.
  • You must continually reinforce the right kind of behaviors and attitudes – over and over and over and over again.
  • Overcoming message fatigue.
  • If you don’t want message fatigue and you don’t want people to tune you out, you need to be creative and interesting and you need to change up the delivery mechanism to keep it fresh. You actually want your message to be jarring in a way.
  • It’s important to be interesting and entertaining, so you can put it in more places. Show up where people are.
  • Integrate into other department trainings, newsletters, meetings.
  • Use social collaboration sites.
  • Get on the video message boards.
  • Play commercials.
  • This only happens if your programming is interesting.
  • It should be Positive not Preachy. Scare tactics drive bad behavior underground.
  •  Have the message come from employees. Person-on-the-street campaigns have been successful because it comes from the people saying, this is how we feel about it. We are the kind of company that speaks up.
  • Why is transparency so important?
  • To build trust, you need to shed light on the process. Transparency is the key.
  • Share what happens after people speak up and highlight confidentiality in the process.
  • Highlight that all reports are followed up on.
  • Tell stories about things that happened – masked to protect the innocent/guilty.
  • This will help you build trust over time.
  • And what about training?
  • Training, but training for management.
  • Create a Listen Up Culture for Management.
  • Campaigns targeted at leadership. Give them a simple process for them to get help on what to do. Make it simple.
  • Give them training – teach and then use improv skills to help them be more welcoming and approachable.

Resources:

Ronnie Feldman (LinkedIn)
Learnings & Entertainments (LinkedIn)
Ronnie Feldman (Twitter)

Learnings & Entertainments (Website)

60-Second Communication & Awareness Shorts – A variety of short, customizable, quick-hitter “commercials” including songs & jingles, video shorts, newsletter graphics & Gifs, and more. Promote integrity, compliance, the Code, the helpline and the E&C team as helpful advisors and coaches.

Workplace Tonight Show! Micro-learning – a library of 1-10-minute trainings and communications wrapped in the style of a late-night variety show, that explains corporate risk topics and why employees should care.

Custom Live & Digital Programing – We’ll develop programming that fits your culture and balances the seriousness of the subject matter with a more engaging delivery.