What are the best practices for creating and enforcing a code of conduct?

Business leaders, including the General Counsel and Chief People Officer, should clearly define the boundaries and purpose of both the code of conduct and the employee handbook. Is the code of conduct the guide to the mission and values, or is it a laundry list of things employees shouldn't do? In 2018, Google famously removed their longstanding motto "Don't be Evil" from their code of conduct, creating debate as to what may have been meant by the change. Your team and your external stakeholders will read into everything you write. Every business should have a clearly articulated code of conduct. Be thoughtful about what to include, what to exclude -- and be mindful of what the content really says about your company. Words matter.

More organizations are being asked by their customers for their position or strategy related to ESG. Codes of conduct are good starting points on defining the governance principles and values that you commit to in running your business. As a result, more businesses are thinking about them not just in terms of preventing misbehavior, but as a business asset that will help differentiate them from competitors.

What's critical to consider today is to identify scenarios that may occur in the digital workplace and not just a physical environment. Hybrid work means that issues can be in the form of textual harrassment, Slack bullying, or Zoom bombing as much as they can be around the water cooler. Organizations that already have codes of conduct should re-inspect to make sure that they are not unintentially biased toward infractions that happen in an office environment, and reflect the tools and technologies that your organization uses to communicate and collaborate everyday

Enforcing a code of conduct requires a credible and consistent workplace investigations process. Trained investigators, internal protocols for resolving misconduct allegations, and consistency in techniques. The code merely states the company's expectations. The code details what the company will do for an employee, and what the employee must do for the company. It should be a guidance document for the gray areas that arise in business. But when the culture collides with code, then a good investigations process must be used to hold people accountable and identify areas for business improvement. Job 1 is to help the organization succeed.

My 3 cents: 1. Leading with the example: Without a doubt having the leadership team on board. If they believe what is written in the Code of Conduct and behave themselves accordingly it would be easy for the other members to take good decisions and conduct themselves with integrity too. 2. Trust in the process: Good communication channels (and campaigns) provide transparency to the process. 3. Constant improvement: Show the company how valuable it is for them to act with integrity – better reputation – more sales – safer workspace. By having a good case management program and monitoring process you can be able to determine gaps and recommend how to improve company`s processes.

I have been searching and have not yet found any good answers to how to remind people in a community (I work in open source software) about the code of conduct. I think this is an important missing part of the conversation. I do believe that most community members wish to comply with community norms and that most CoC violations are inadvertent. I am looking for best practices on how to prevent behavior that goes against the CoC. Some examples I've seen are, at physical events, having the CoC printed on a pull-up banner at the entrance to the event. For online events, having the CoC as the first slide in any presentation or as part of the welcome screen. What other ideas?

Depending on which industry your firm is in, you may have regulatory obligations to retain business-related communications. Maintaining that historical record provides a good opportunity to periodically inspect for adherence to your code of conduct, and to spot potential infractions before they become larger issues. Given the explosion of the potential surface area where these infractions can occur (e.g. email. collaborative tools like Microsoft Teams etc.), the use of automation can enable auditors and/or compliance teams to be proactive in not only spotting the issues, but in rewarding the behaviors that your firm is attempting to reinforce.