Talking about ethics early and often is key to establishing a culture of integrity at your company. Every company has some sort of on-boarding process for new employees, whether in formalized sessions or more relaxed introductions. New employees have to learn about key colleagues, the management chain, clients, rules and regulations, new technology and systems…the…
Businesses can take a few simple steps to create an environment where employees feel more comfortable raising critical ethics concerns. Every businessperson would like to believe that their employees would readily approach them with any ethics concerns in the workplace. But the reality is that many ethics concerns go unreported until it’s too late. To…
The wrong vendor or business partner can harm your business and reputation. Here’s how to find the right ones. To paraphrase John Donne, no business is an island. Every enterprise, from a self-employed consultant who works from home to a company with a few hundred employees, requires the services of other third-party businesses in order…
Your small business is always vulnerable to financial mismanagement ranging from employees “skimming” money occasionally, to serious, long-term embezzlement. But there are many steps you can take to mitigate your vulnerabilities. In our survey of small business owners and managers on protecting one’s business, nearly two-thirds reported being “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” about ethics…
Here are the top 5 functional areas reported as having ethics issues The U.S. Bank Small Business Ethics Center surveyed 301 small business owners and managers nationwide to learn about where they dealt with ethics in their companies. Not surprisingly, we found that ethics is a high priority for small business owners and managers, regardless…
As a business owner, there’s plenty of challenges that you know how to handle yourself, but what about when it comes to business ethics? Ethics in business don’t come with an easy playbook or assigned advisor to help you manage them. Your CPA might be able to find financial impropriety, but that doesn’t mean they…
Profits and competition are only a small part of your business story. Going beyond the bottom line, you have an opportunity to cultivate your community like one Wisconsin barbershop owner did. With a vision focused on the people you employ and the community in which you operate, you can make a positive impact, not only…
How a Hollywood media company creates a culture of ethics. For Garson Foos, president of Shout! Factory, doing business in the Hollywood film scene presents its share of ethical challenges. In this video, he explains how his company maintains its reputation for high ethical standards by focusing on a culture of shared values. This video…
The owners of a Chicago juice company find success by marketing and leading with integrity. Angela and Anthony Maicki, the owners of a small juice company, take pride in leading by example and modeling their values every day in both operations and marketing. This video originally appeared on U.S. Bank’s Financial IQ site. Used by kind…
The National Blues Museum strikes the right chord with its business practices. In this video, Jacqueline K. Dace, Director of Internal Affairs of the National Blues Museum, shares how the museum developed an ethics framework, including doing research on best practices and developing a code of conduct. This video originally appeared on U.S. Bank’s Financial…