A company’s ethical achievements are increased eleven-fold when employees are encouraged to base their decisions on the values and standards of the business. That’s the key finding of a new survey by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, an alliance of organizations committed to business best practice. The ethics group lists the benefits of company programs that go beyond bare minimum standards of responsible conduct in the second installment of its Global Business Ethics Survey. It reports that high-quality ethics and compliance programs were remarkably empowering: “Never before in history have employees revealed just how much of an impact these programs have in their organizations. Simply put, organizational leaders should not be satisfied with a minimally constructed program as it’s well evidenced that any step taken towards high-quality performance provides a significant return on investment and an improved culture.”

John Howell, Editorial Director