Good Governance Guides

Good Governance Guide: No 6.2

Category: Transparency
Subject: Ethics and Code of Conduct
Source: Chartered Secretaries Canada

Organizations should take several practical steps with respect to a code of conduct and ethics.

In the case of the former, employees should be obliged to read and acknowledge their understanding of the organization’s Code of Conduct by signing the Code at the time of hire. The Code typically should elaborate on values and expectations in terms of employee behaviour and stresses the need to respect confidentiality and privacy. The document should also spell out the consequences for violating the Code, including termination. The overall objective should be to promote higher standards of practice.

Ethics, the need to do the right thing, is a standard or practice which must be institutionalized across the breadth and depth of an organization. Someone senior in the organization must take ownership for this and assume leadership.

To implement an effective ethics program there must be:

• Buy-in and leadership from the top;
• A commitment to the institutionalization of best practices on a daily basis;
• Training at the individual and group level to ensure consistency of understanding;
• Advice to employees on what to do when they witness a breach of ethical practice;
• Review and feedback at regular intervals;
• An awareness by all of the sanctions imposed for wrongful behaviour;
• Promulgation of the Code of Ethics on the organizations website and in its Annual report; and
• Distribution or circulation of the organization’s Code of Ethics to all stakeholders.
• A sample code of conduct from Sun Life Financial is as follows:
  

Code of Business Conduct
At Sun Life Financial, our long-standing reputation for corporate integrity, built on the core values we follow, is a reflection of the personal integrity of each and every employee in the organization.

Our approach to business conduct is based on ethical behaviour, adhering to business standards, integrity and respect. This approach to business is captured in our Code of business conduct, Acting ethically, which we ask employees to agree to each year.

The Code of business conduct applies to all employees (including contract employees) and directors of Sun Life Financial Inc., its subsidiaries and joint ventures, other than those Sun Life Financial subsidiaries and joint ventures that have adopted an approved code of business conduct that is consistent with the spirit of the Code.

To view the “Acting ethically” booklet, please go to www.sunlife.com