Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers. Edition 88

Dear friends,

Welcome to the 88th edition of Compliance and Ethics: Ideas & Answers.

I wanted to start this week with some thoughts on a simple but effective phrase in our field, Speak up / Listen up and I'd love to hear your thoughts about it. Following this I take a look at the importance of Ambassador's Networks, inspired by a session at the recent The 2024 SCCE Compliance and Ethics Institute event.

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Thank you,

Joe.

Speak Up / Listen Up

by Joe Murphy, CCEP

Sometimes a simple idea can make a difference. In my reading and work I am always looking for ideas and approaches to help compliance & ethics professionals around the world to do their difficult work.

A quick history of “speak up” lines. In the employee reporting system area, the original idea was to have a “hotline.” This suggested something dramatic – making a call just in time to prevent illegal conduct. The name was intended to draw attention to this new outlet for people to raise concerns. Gradually we shifted to something less inflammatory, with the word “helpline.” This conveyed the idea that compliance & ethics people were in fact there to help out, whether it was to report a violation or to get advice on what to do when a problem arises.

Again with the passage of time the idea of calling this a “speak up” system developed, emphasizing the need for everyone to be alert to compliance and ethics risks and to be ready to take action by speaking up.

But in this field there is another very important reality when it comes to giving employees and others a voice. All the slogans and messages in the world don’t work if no one is listening and taking action. No slogan will get people to take the risk of speaking up if nothing happens, or if the only result is retaliation.

A clever idea from ISO 37002. Recently in reading the ISO standard on whistleblowing systems, ISO 37002, I was trudging through the somewhat bureaucratic language that seems to characterize the work of ISO when I hit the phrase: “speak up/listen up.” Being direct, clear and dramatic is not the language I had grown to expect in an ISO standard, but this really hit the mark. It uses direct, action-oriented words for both sides of the equation. Yes, we want all our employees to speak up. But you in management also must learn to “listen up.” Management owes this to the courageous people who do speak up. I think this is a much stronger and wiser message.

Speak up/Listen up.?Preventing misconduct must not just rest on the shoulders of the workers. All the managers have an essential role too. They all need to learn how to receive and respond to concerns their people express. “Listen up” is more than sitting quietly while only half listening to someone’s concerns. It should mean active listening, with the expectation of taking action as appropriate. It means listening in a way that draws out all the important information in preparation for taking action. It means showing real respect for anyone who comes forward with a concern.

“Listen up” is a tremendously important message to all those in management and in staff. When someone has a concern related to ethics or compliance, this should be our first thought. Listen up to whatever the person is saying.

So I like the sound and the message of this phrase. If you have used it or have thoughts about it, we would love to hear from you. We promise, if you communicate to us about it, we will definitely “Listen up.”

Read the article on our website...

Ambassadors networks are worth it!

By Joe Murphy, CCEP

The 2024 SCCE Compliance and Ethics Institute was well worth the time spent participating.? One of the sessions I attended was on ambassadors networks, or what Matt Silverman describes in his book The Champions Network: A Blueprint to Expand Your Influence and Spread Big Ideas in Any Organization, ?as “champions networks.”? This is one of the best ways to ensure that your compliance program has a reach throughout the company.

The session was an excellent example of our profession’s generosity in sharing ideas and examples. The presenter, Maryse Tremblay, shared the lessons learned from her experience, plus elicited valuable insights from the audience.

This is one area where the government agencies offering advice and suggestions about compliance programs seem to fall short.? It may not be accurate to say that compliance ambassadors are an absolutely necessary element in compliance programs, but there should be no question that they can play a highly valuable role.

Compliance champions in the HR department. Immediately before attending this session I had had the opportunity to propose this approach during an excellent presentation by representatives of the Canadian Competition Bureau.? Canadian competition law has been changed to add prohibitions on wage-fixing and no-poach agreements.? Under Canadian law (and similarly under US antitrust law) these are now treated the same as price fixing and other forms of collusion.? Yet HR folks may not have received or really processed this message. In that session I recommended that companies have compliance champions in their HR departments.? This would then provide a practical vehicle for getting this important message out and reminding people from time to time about its importance.? So I was primed for this next session.

Lack of support by business unit managers.? One of the interesting questions discussed is how to handle the business unit manager who does not support or assist the unit’s compliance champion.? On this one I suggested an answer that touches on another key compliance element:? using the evaluation and incentive system.? People complain that they don’t know how to use assessments or other incentives related to compliance.? But every manager, including heads of business units, should be assessed on their support of the compliance program.? This point would be entirely logical to apply here. The business unit or department head would be assessed on her support of the compliance program.? If the manager showed no support for the compliance ambassador that would show up in the manager’s assessment, and then in her pay and potential for promotion.? This is how companies communicate important messages.? It belongs in this context as well.? Companies use incentives when they want something done, and that point could easily apply here, to help make the ambassadors program successful.

Continue reading on our website...

The ELVIS Act – Tennessee uses a famous person’s name to get attention for a law intended to protect a person’s identity.

At the SCCE’s Compliance and Ethics Institute in Grapevine, TX, I attended a session on ELVIS because – how could I resist a talk about a statute based on such a clever acronym (yes, I am really that shallow). This is Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Identity Security Act, i.e., ELVIS. Of course, regulating AI is serious business, but Tennessee, using the identity of a favorite son to protect the identities of performers? How could anyone not at least think about that one? I did wonder if it occurred to anyone that there might be a bit of an anomaly or irony here: the title of the act appropriates a famous person’s name to enact legislation to prevent the use of someone else’s identity for their own purposes?

Here’s an additional thought. Perhaps there should be some form of annual recognition for the year’s best title in legislation? It might appropriately be titled “the Golden SOX” award, including a special pair of golden colored award sox, in recognition of one of the most enduring legislative titles created to draw attention to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. ELVIS would have to be in the running for that award!

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