Code of Conduct

The organisation’s means of achieving its objectives are influenced by the various laws and regulations that must be followed. Breach of these is, of course, is a significant risk in terms of both sanctions and reputational loss.

In addition to the external constraints of the organisation it is necessary for it to align itself with its own ethical principles. Ethical principles should be such that they safeguard the realisation of strategic objectives, taking into account both internal and external expectations: "Why and on which specific issues should our business ethics be ensured and strengthened?"

It is good to minimise the number of precise rules. It is more important however to identify the key principles which allow the organisation to be successful, both in terms of its risk management and as regards the attainment of its objectives.

From a risk management perspective it is worth noting that a breach of such self-imposed principles may cause even more severe damage to your brand reputation and to the motivation and commitment of your personnel.

The ethical culture of an organisation should be developed towards the need for a decreasing number of rules and guidelines. A strong ethical culture is based on the ability of managers and employees to identify, deal with and solve the everyday ethical issues they come across.

Code Of Conduct work progresses through four stages:

1. Analysis of the internal state of the organisation as well as the external operating environment, identification of the strategic needs and everyday key challenges
2. Structuring and drafting the rules and principles
3. Crystallisation and finishing of the shared principles
4. Embedding the Code Of Conduct into the everyday life of the organisation

The Code Of Conduct has a genuine impact when its content is appropriate and of high quality. In addition, it is important to build a systematic and target-oriented ethics programme around the guidelines supporting the promotion of the ethical culture of the organisation. Our web based learning program works well as the starting point in the process of embedding your code.

Embedding a code of conduct with the help of a web based learning program.

The Juuriharja e-learning programme is an introduction to an ethical modus operandi and competence. After a few real-life case studies your personnel will have a feel for typical ethical dilemmas. In addition they will be able to come up with alternative solutions and imagine their consequences.

The content of the e-learning program is focused around five key themes:

1. integrity and compliance
2. equality issues
3. conflicts of interest and corruption
4. health, safety and data protection
5. environmental issues

There is a short introduction to each theme as well as a real-life case concerning a connected ethical risk. The participant chooses her or his choice of action in the situation depicted in the case and receives feedback on the choice. The length of the course is 20-30 minutes.

The goals of the course

• To help remember the code of conduct and to recognize ethical dilemmas at work
• To encourage employees to take up issues and address them at work
• To help identify the situations where one should be particularly alert and behave correctly
• To make decision-making easier. When everyone is aware of the desired behavior, time and energy is saved in decision-making
• To guide people in making use of the code of conduct in various situations