How To Create An Ethical Workplace
Ethical principles of an organization are the dos and don’ts for the guidance of employees in order to create an ideal workplace. An ethical workplace plays vital role in the development of an organization. Simple is the formula:
Ethical Employees and Workplace = Happy Customers + Boost in Organizational Output
Well-mannered and principled employees are sort of backbone for any type of company. If you are a customer-based company where you would be dealing with hundreds of customers per day, your ethical workplace and employees can be a source of attraction for your clients. They will feel safe in making investment with your organization where chance of cheating or dishonesty will be minimal. At the same time, if you are a manufacturing firm and do not involve customer dealing, even then your honest employees will be a grantee of fair manufacturing process and as a result your customers will be able to get best quality products. As a result of it, you can develop a large loyal customer base. By taking care of few basic things, you can create an Ethical Workplace. Now if you are interested in knowing about those simple procedures, let’s go together…
Instructions
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1
Set a Conduct Policy
Make an impressive conduct policy for your employees, based on the dos and don’ts of your organization. Make sure to handover one copy of the policy to each of your employee, so that they can get an idea of their boundaries and authorities. Moreover, you can use the written ethical policy of your organization as a proof while taking notice of any unethical action by your employees.
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2
Be an example for your employees
The written conduct policy is of no use until the higher management of the organization does not behave morally itself. Be a principled and well-mannered boss in order to get your workforce into right track.
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3
Offer Classes, Trainings and Seminars
Organize some ethics classes, trainings or seminar to practically train your employees. This simple activity can go a long way towards guiding your employees find out what is acceptable and what is not. Free Ethic Training Courses are available online for small firms with limited workforce and budget. Bigger organizations can hire an educated, impressive and motivational trainer to guide their employees.
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4
Serial killers start with cats
Once you told your workforce about your organization’s Ethics Policy and train them accordingly, it is your right to keep an eye on their activities and to ask them for anything beyond the policy. Secondly, “Serial killers start with cats” - violations that are ignored on early level can lead to major crime. Make sure that your employees know it well that you have a proper check and balance system. If you caught anyone breaching the ethics policy, give him or her verbal warning with a hope that they will not repeat it. If his or her negative behavior continues, then you can treat the case according to the rules of your organization.
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5
Introduce a system to report misconduct
There are certain times when an employee may observe unethical behavior by a colleagues or head and he or she might want to report the management about it, but could not just because of any organizational fear. Therefore, make sure to create such a smooth system reporting system in order to facilitate your employees that there are resources available if anyone wishes to report delinquency.
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6
Protect the Whistleblowers
Always encourage the whistleblowers, anyone with the guts to raise voice against any illegal activity in the workplace, in your organization. Make it easy and safe for them to report the management about wrongdoings in the organization. Proper incentives and protection to an early whistleblower can give birth to more courageous employees. However, if you could not protect the early one, you simply cannot expect rest of the workforce to report any unlawful activity in your company.
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