EASY ETHICS GUIDELINES

How to use the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG) to establish or strengthen ethics programs

Purposes of the FSG:

a) Prevent and detect criminal conduct and
b) Promote an ethical culture

1. The FSG require that an organization establish procedures to prevent bad conduct and that this is done in a well defined program. You should have an ethics code based on actual known risks and a list of potential conflicts clearly listed. ASK: do we have an ethics code and clear guidelines on conflicts of interest?
2. Top officials (boards) have a duty to know the ethics program is implemented and effective. Request an annual ethics and compliance report & plan for the future. Train top executives on how to listen and encourage communication from employees. ASK: Does the ethics program work or is it only a paper program? What is our Director doing to support the program?
3. Ethics personnel must have direct access to top officials and adequate resources. Set up people in each department that can be the 'ethics point person' or Departmental Ethics Officer. ASK: what is the budget for the ethics program? How many people work on the program? Is it being run by one of our top executives?
4. Hire, Retain and Promote employees consistent with ethics principles; ASK: do we include questions on ethical behaviors in our annual evaluations?
5. Ethics training is required and it should be matched to roles and responsibilities of the staff. Train staff on how to make hotline complaints. Engage employees in the training; don't overwhelm them with lots of rules and possible punishments. Use role plays and do videos showing actual work scenarios. Make sure all top personnel, including Boards are trained and that line employees know it. Publish ethics information (including Frequently Asked Questions) on your website. Do confidential interviews with staff (new staff; leaving staff) - ask their opinion on fairness, honesty, openness; ability to report problems. ASK: what input have employees had in the creation of our training programs?
6. Create ethics training and statements of policy for agents (vendors and contractors). This would include gifts, conflicts and how to use the Hotline for complaints. ASK: what do we do to communicate our ethics policies to vendors?
7. Monitor and Audit program (have a way to keep statistics on program) ASK: how do we make it mandatory that we receive an annual report on the status of the Ethics program? How do we measure the effectiveness of the program?
8. Confidential Hotline set up and employees secure that it is confidential and that there will be no retaliation. Staff should know what will be done if they make complaints. ASK: How many hotline calls do we get per year and what is our written process on how they are dealt with?
9. Assess actual areas that have been problems with ethics in the past. ASK: Where is our log of ethics problems we have had in the past and how they were handled?
10. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the 'ethical culture'. ASK: Have we done employee surveys/focus groups and interviews on ethics?