Now is a great time of year to say thank you to your employees for their contributions, for a job well done, and for their ethical behavior.  Everyone appreciates a sincere “thank you!”

Your ethics program, including your ethics hotline, is an investment, one you have made to improve your organization’s ability to meet its objectives.  You have received a good return on your investment if employees have used the program to guide their ethical behavior and to report suspected wrongdoing. When faced with an ethical dilemma or question, most employees have done the right thing – they have asked a supervisor, they have called the ethics and compliance office, or they have made a report to the anonymous hotline.

Your many communications efforts throughout the year have helped. These efforts have reminded employees about the ethics policy, about the many do’s and don’ts, and about the risks and penalties of non-compliance. Employees have acknowledged receipt of the Code of Conduct, attended company-wide meetings, participated in training sessions, read e-mail blasts, and glanced at posters on break room walls.

Those and other forms of communication are essential for building and maintaining awareness of your organization’s ethics and compliance program and ethics hotline. Now, at a time of year when it is traditional to send holiday greetings to employees, take the opportunity to thank them for doing the right thing day after day, for helping the organization live up to its highest standards, and for a job well done.

Happy holidays from all of us at Ethical Advocate.