Establish a career where you canMAKE A DIFFERENCE“This book is an immenselyvaluable contribution to the field.It will not only help guide a newgeneration <strong>of</strong> compliance <strong>and</strong>ethics <strong>of</strong>ficers through the manypr<strong>of</strong>essional challenges thatawait them, but will also provideconsiderable useful insight <strong>and</strong>know-how to their experiencedcounterparts.”— Jeffrey M. KaplanPartner, Kaplan & Walker LLP,a compliance law firm; former programdirector <strong>of</strong> the Conference Board’sBusiness <strong>Ethics</strong> ConferenceAn authoritative, step-by-step guide to enteringone <strong>of</strong> the fastest growing fields in the business worldwww.corporatecompliance.org • +1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977
Empirically Speakingby Leslie Altizer, <strong>of</strong> The CEB Research TeamTurn stressful corporate changeinto “integrity opportunities”AltizerMost compliance programs have lessthan five hours <strong>of</strong> employees’ timeeach year for dedicated compliance<strong>and</strong> ethics training (or barely a minute perday). So, how do you shape employee behaviorwhile allowing for the entrepreneurial spirit<strong>and</strong> on-the-job innovation that drivecorporate success? To create the rightconditions, compliance <strong>and</strong> ethics<strong>of</strong>ficers currently create a variety<strong>of</strong> policies, trainings, controls, <strong>and</strong>incentives. Some <strong>of</strong> this effort isrequired, <strong>and</strong> much is helpful.But if we really want to drive theright behaviors, we should not start byasking what activities <strong>and</strong> inputs we provide.Instead, we should ask when <strong>and</strong> how we canmost inflect employee behavior. In the past twoyears, 84% <strong>of</strong> companies experienced a significantcompany-wide change, <strong>and</strong> this frequentchange presents an underappreciated risk—“change risk”—<strong>and</strong> a significant opportunity.To underst<strong>and</strong> how employees experiencecorporate change, CEB <strong>Compliance</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Ethics</strong>launched an exhaustive employee surveywhich tested 16 <strong>of</strong> these change risks (or as wetitled them, “career moments”) to underst<strong>and</strong>their specific impact on employee misconduct,reporting, engagement, <strong>and</strong> receptivity totraining <strong>and</strong> communications. We found thatspecific career moments represent key timeswhen established patterns <strong>of</strong> employee behaviorare disrupted <strong>and</strong> subject to change.A failure to respond effectively at a careermoment leads to significantly higher rates <strong>of</strong> misconduct.For example, employees experiencing acorporate lay<strong>of</strong>f observe 3 times as much bribery,3.5 times as much insider fraud, <strong>and</strong> 4 times asmuch insider trading as unaffected employees.However, we also found that all is not lost!Career moments also represent the times whencompliance <strong>and</strong> ethics can have maximumimpact on future employee behavior by utilizingeffective training <strong>and</strong> communication strategies.Taking a career moments-based approach can:··improve employee perceptions <strong>of</strong> integrityby 40%,··reduce observed misconduct by almost67%, <strong>and</strong>··increase employee engagement by 23%.Leading companies are already buildingcompliance systems more responsive to careermoments. Specifically, these companies areimplementing strategies such as:··Scheduling time with HR <strong>and</strong> linemanagement to share benefits <strong>of</strong> communicatingwith employees before key careermoments, with messages about integrity<strong>and</strong> organizational justice;··Identifying a communication plan to targetcareer moments across the company;··Underst<strong>and</strong>ing the compliance <strong>and</strong> ethicsrisks <strong>of</strong> specific corporate changes; <strong>and</strong>··Delivering targeted outreach before <strong>and</strong>during employee onboarding to impart acommitment to integrity, before negativebehaviors set in. ✵Leslie Altizer (laltizer@executiveboard.com) is Director, CEB <strong>Compliance</strong><strong>and</strong> <strong>Ethics</strong> in Arlington, VA.CEB is the leading member-based advisory company. By combining the bestpractices <strong>of</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> member companies with our advanced researchmethodologies <strong>and</strong> human capital analytics, we equip senior leaders <strong>and</strong>their teams with insight <strong>and</strong> actionable solutions to transform operations.<strong>Compliance</strong> & <strong>Ethics</strong> Pr<strong>of</strong>essional May/June 2013+1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 www.corporatecompliance.org 39
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