How Much Do a Company's Ethics Matter in The Modern Professional Climate?

Attracting the best talents to the organizations plays a major role in the success of that company more than ever in the history. The best talent doesn’t accessible with the best salary or even with other benefits. But they also look at aspects such as does the work environment feels like at home (culture) and how does the corporate ethics stand out compared to the completion in the market.

What Qualifies as “Ethics”?

•    Fraud and manipulation: This is obvious, but companies follow ethical guidelines that don’t involve or encourage its employees to involve in financial malpractices such as fraud, bribery or insider trading. Though the organization doesn’t follow or encourage such activities, individuals, however, could involve in such activities and the entire organizations' reputation could be on the line. Thus it is mandatory to set up strict zero-tolerance policies and take immediate disciplinary actions in such events.
•    Sustainability: This refers to the practices of an organization towards the environment that should be continued indefinitely. The organization could adopt sustainable ethics such as the use of solar power, a decrease in pollution, reducing carbon footprint, switching to electric vehicles, etc. However, sustainability is also considered as the less consumption of natural resources such as water.
•    Diversity and inclusion: Diversity and inclusion efforts are also seen as responsible, ethical business practices. These include programs to hire people from more diverse backgrounds, including different ethnicities, sexes, and differently-abled people.
•    Exploitation: Large companies can make greater profits by exploiting local populations, especially in developing countries, or by exploiting tax loopholes to the disadvantage of individuals and businesses around them. These practices may yield your business a short-term benefit, but they’re heavily frowned upon by the modern public and are usually seen as unethical.
•    Donations and contributions: Finally, a business’s donations and volunteer contributions to charitable organizations, local groups, and good causes can also be considered an ethical and/or benevolent practice.

It is important for an organization to pay attention to these areas and invest so the company could flourish with the best talent that could attract.


Reference:

Larry Alton. (2017) How Much Do A Company's Ethics Matter In The Modern Professional Climate? . [Online] Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryalton/2017/09/12/how-much-do-a-companys-ethics-matter-in-the-modern-professional-climate/#41da82fb1c79. [Accessed 24th February 2020].