Unbossing Ethics: A new Code of Ethics for Novartis
Klaus Moosmayer
Member of the Executive Committee and Chief Ethics, Risk and Compliance Officer of Novartis, Board Member of SwissHoldings and Business@OECD
For the past twelve months, thousands of Novartis associates have been engaged in conversations around what it means to do what’s right – for patients, for society, for humanity. Now we’ve taken this conversation even deeper as we come together to celebrate our brand new Code of Ethics and EthicsWeek.
Created by our associates for associates, our new Code of Ethics outlines the commitments we collectively make to doing what’s right. Underpinned by our four ethical principles – be honest, be open-minded, be bold, be accountable – our Code is supported by an online, interactive decision-making framework anchored in behavioral science, designed to help all Novartis associates navigate ethical dilemmas. It’s more than a policy...it’s a way to empower our people to make decisions that put patients and society first. Through our new Code (which has replaced our Code of Conduct), we’re unbossing ethics.
Crowdsourcing our Code of Ethics was the first step in ensuring it reflects the diversity of voices and minds we have at Novartis. But we know that embedding the Code and truly making it meaningful for all our associates is an ongoing process. That’s why we dedicated the first week of September to doing what’s right, with our first ever EthicsWeek.
Over five consecutive days, we hosted over 160 events in our countries, as well as six global virtual events with expert speakers covering everything from demystifying ethics, human rights and D&I, and the ethical considerations of future trends in digital and research and development.
Our Ethics, Risk and Compliance colleagues took a leading role in embedding the enthusiasm for EthicsWeek across our organization, with a team of 125 volunteer collaborators actively shaping the agenda of the week.
The resulting engagement around the world was truly inspiring, with 17,000 joining our global events live, and all countries went above and beyond in hosting local ethics events. On top of this, we had over a thousand associates proactively make a personal Ethics Commitment – something they do, big or small, to help drive our culture of doing what’s right.
A big thank you to all involved in EthicsWeek – from within the Novartis family and beyond. Stay tuned for a highlights video filled with inspiring moments from the week coming soon.
At a time when the world needs to trust organizations more than ever, I could not be more proud of the efforts of our Novartis people in embracing our new Code. This is a moment in time for us, as an organization and as individuals, where we can proudly say that doing what’s right for patients and society is, and must always be, our priority. It’s a journey, and we remain humble in our understanding that this will take time. But we are well on our way.
If you are yet to do so, take a look at our brand new Code of Ethics on Novartis.com. I’d be very interested to hear your feedback and know what you’re committing to help drive good ethics in your daily life.
Energy possibility, Energy transition impact on power grids
4 年Mehran Sedighi Nadeem Anwer
Super inspiring and thanks for sharing! We are hosting a Business Ethics Week in Novo Nordisk every year in December to highlight different aspects of business ethics - and also to mark the international Anti-corruption and Human Rights day. Every year we try to go above and beyond, and last year due to corona making it impossible to meet in person, we created a virtual tv programme with initiatives from around the global organisation and invited external speakers, made a "who wants to be a Human Rights Champion" (inspired by "Who wants to be a Millionaire) having our CEO compete against two graduates. Not to say that ethics needs to be a tv-programme, but sometimes thinking out of the box, providing new and interesting perspectives and really think about how we communicate on a daily basis makes a huge difference. And the best part is that employees actually enjoy being challenged in another way - which I believe in the end also improves ethical decision-making for the benefit of the company and most importantly the patients :-)
Head, EM, Value Evidence & Outcomes, GSK | Accomplished in Innovative Strategic Thought, Leadership, Partnership, HEOR, RWE, Market Access & Business Impact
4 年This is another example of Novartis being at the forefront of organizational evolution. Congratulations!
SVP Market Leader, Partnerships & Innovation at Datamaran, Member EFRAG Expert Working Group on EU Sustainability Reporting Standards
4 年Remarkable work, Klaus. I love how you framed this as "more than a policy - a way to empower our people to make decisions that put patients and society first." It makes me think to my PhD studies on interactive management control systems. I am curious how you determined the areas of commitment - do they reflect the analysis you conducted with the Risk Compass?
Leader | Internal Controls | SOX | J-SOX | ICFR | ITGC | COSO | FMCG | Pharma | Media | Energy | Engineering | Telecommunications
4 年Klaus Moosmayer absolutely inspiring & mature, in terms of, corporate evolution of risks, controls & compliance! Looking forward to meeting Jan in November.