Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key aspect of your small business is your ethics policy. You may have the most new and novel product/service and systems, but unless your human component is solid, you may be missing the most important ingredient. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Establish An Ethics Policy For Your Small Business.
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Ethics is an important part of any business, but it is not talked about often. Ethics and morals is how you keep your reputation as a small business owner. Ethics ensures that no matter what every employee, customer or client is treated the same way. That is why establishing an ethics policy for your small business is a step in the right direction. Most successful businesses are successful because everyone a part of the team, no matter how high or low they sit on the ladder, are working toward the same goal under the same codes of conduct. If you are looking for ways to set up an ethics policy, here is how you do it.
Determine The Priorities
The ethics policy of your company should work in tangent with your company’s mission and goals. You also have to keep in mind the company’s office policies because how people are supposed to conduct themselves at work will be a major factor in the ethics code for your business. The priorities of your business should address things like the social responsibility of the company and its employees, goals of the company and the guides and rules for employees to follow in any given situation. Help from a Rockwell Legal Group attorney could make this process smoother.
Discuss With Your Employees
Your ethics policy should not be made in a vacuum. You want to make sure that you have all stakeholders held accountable. Your employees are a large part of your company, so it would make sense to have their input on the ethics policy. Giving your employees the opportunity to add to the code of ethics is a great idea because it will increase the chances of them understanding and agreeing to follow the policy.
Get Specific
Many ethics policies are specific. Do not be afraid to get specific for yours. Some touchy topics are typically romance and nepotism. Being specific about those types of things provides clear expectations that everyone will be held accountable for. No one should be able to say they were confused about anything in your ethics policy. That is why being specific is beneficial. It leaves no room for error or wrong interpretation.
Appoint An Ethical Authority Figure
After you have successfully established an ethics policy, you will now need someone to help implement it. This is where appointing an ethical authority figure comes into play. Everyone should get a copy of the ethics policy. Require that they sign and give back the policy to show that they have read and understood the new policies that will be going into effect soon. Often times, the ethical authority figure is the human resources department.
You should also consider putting someone up to the task of regularly updating the ethics code so that your business is never caught slipping. Make sure that whoever you pick they are someone who is personable, reliable, honest and committed to the company code of ethics. Having someone there who easily sways their position will only do harm to keeping the code implemented.
