Workplace Integrity: Build Trust and Transparency

Navigate threats to a fair and ethical culture while meeting elevated regulatory expectations for compliance program effectiveness.

Workplace integrity is as important as ever — but may be harder to maintain

More than half of compliance leaders say upticks in bullying, harassment and other behaviors that erode ethical culture at their organization — and the need to establish a better dynamic — are top priorities. As these cultural challenges — and the external factors that drive them — persist, compliance leaders are also tasked with operationalizing new regulatory expectations for program effectiveness.

In light of this, and knowing that organizations with strong ethical cultures outperform their competition by 40%, compliance leaders must adopt low-lift, resource-light ways to identify barriers to workplace integrity and enable managers to foster ethical behavior across the business.

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    Workplace integrity strategies for building trust and transparency

    Organizations can build a culture of workplace integrity with ethical leadership, fair reporting processes and a speak-up culture. These approaches foster trust, transparency and a positive work environment.

    Encourage reporting misconduct

    Only 42% of employees believe their company’s reporting process is transparent; the same portion thinks their company treats reporters fairly. This is particularly problematic considering that employees who trust the reporting and investigation processes are more likely to have an increased sense of personal responsibility to report poor behavior. Those who don’t trust the reporting and investigation processes are also less likely to think their company is ethical and cares about them and are less engaged than their peers who feel the opposite.

    To increase reporting, you need a reporting value proposition that includes trust in, safety in and confidence in the benefits of reporting. To do so, consider:

    • Increasing awareness of the team benefits of reporting by tying company reporting objectives to local team ethical goals

    • Recognizing employees who report as role models

    • Committing to making self-reporting a mitigating factor in disciplinary decisions and explicitly communicating this approach to employees

    Foster a speak-up culture

    To encourage employees to use internal reporting channels to flag misconduct, show them they don’t have to worry about retaliation or being left in the dark after speaking up. To do this:

    • Proactively address the risk of retaliation. Work with your HR partners to monitor changes in performance ratings, pay and job duties that could signal retaliation. Incorporate questions about retaliation into exit interviews, where you may gain valuable information.

    • Regularly follow up with reporters. Make sure reporters understand the investigation process and their protections as an employee against retaliation, and make sure they see positive results stemming from their actions.

    • Show the impact of speaking up. More transparency on the outcomes of people speaking up, specifically use of data and metrics, increases employee confidence that their company will take action on misbehavior.

    Empower ethical leadership

    The majority of compliance leaders do not expect imminent increases in headcount, making it particularly important to set up managers to act as ethical leaders who foster a culture of workplace integrity. The first step is to provide internal leaders, at scale, with tools to increase their knowledge of, and expand their ability to detect, cultural issues before they escalate into misconduct.

    Connecting what employees see in their day-to-day — mutual respect and honesty among teams — and the tone at the top, to the point of employees believing that senior leaders act ethically and respond appropriately to unethical behavior, drives workplace integrity.

    Workplace integrity FAQs

    What is workplace integrity?

    Workplace integrity is about having strong principles and values, upstanding character traits and work ethics, which you demonstrate through your conduct in the work environment, even when nobody is watching.

    How can organizations build integrity and trust in the workplace?

    Organizations can build integrity and trust in the workplace by creating open, fair and transparent processes around reporting misconduct. Companies that incentivize employees to act ethically create a more solid culture of workplace integrity.

    Drive stronger performance on your mission-critical priorities.