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by Simon Webley & Martin Le Jeune
Executive Summary
Every three years the IBE surveys larger companies known
to have codes of ethics/conduct/business principles about
the use they make of them and their views about current business
ethics issues. The principal findings of the 2001 survey are
as follows:
In 2001 (compared to 1998) more larger companies
- Provide a code of ethics for their employees
- Provide procedures for asking questions in a confidential
manner
- Include conforming with the code in employment contracts
- Show interest in ethical/social audits
- Use their codes to 'give staff guidance' rather than for
'enhancing reputation'.
- Use the intranet to deliver ethics awareness and training
But fewer
- Are training staff in business ethics
- Are reporting on ethics in Annual Reports
- Have a process for revision of their code
Companies say they are most concerned about
- Supply chain issues/sourcing
- Bribery and corruption
- Remuneration of senior staff or board
- Work/life balance issues
- Product safety
Also included are: the experiences of BP and CDC with their
ethics programmes; an illustration of the way the intranet
is being used for corporate training in business ethics, and
how ethical audits can be used.
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February 2002
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