Hill-Rom Global Code of Conduct

Q:
Deann was approached by Nick,
an employee from an industry
publication, who wants to
include an article in an upcoming
newsletter describing how a Hill-Rom
product was used by a customer to
enhance productivity at an acute care
facility. Deann provided information
to Nick, and Nick sent her a draft of
the article to review. After reviewing
it, Deann asked Nick to remove a
statement attributed to her from the
article. She then approved the other
information provided in the article.
Did Deann act properly?
A:
No. Even though the article did
not contain a direct quote from a
Hill-Rom employee, Deann should
have worked with the V.P. of Corporate
Communications to determine if it is
appropriate for the company to provide
information to the industry publication
and, if so, what information would be
appropriate to provide.
Hill-Rom Global Code of Conduct 32
Communications with Investors, Press,
Interest Groups, and Through Social Media
As a company, we must speak with one voice to investors, analysts,
the press, and public interest groups and in accordance with all
applicable laws and company policy. We must not communicate on
behalf of Hill-Rom unless we are authorized to do so under our Public
Disclosure Policy.
Requests for Information
If you receive a request for information about Hill-Rom, please keep in
mind the following simple rules:
• All requests from the media and public interest groups or for public
endorsements or statements of support by the company should be
referred to the V.P. of Corporate Communications; and
• All investor analyst requests should be referred to the V.P. of
Investor Relations.
Initiating Communications
Similarly, we are prohibited from initiating communications on behalf
of Hill-Rom with the press, investors or public interest groups unless
we are authorized to do so under our Public Disclosure Policy.
Social Media
The internet provides unique opportunities to listen, learn and
engage with internal and external stakeholders using a wide
variety of tools like blogs, social networking sites, and chat rooms.
However, we may not use social media tools to speak on behalf
of Hill-Rom, conduct Hill-Rom business or otherwise respond
to information requests for business purposes unless the use of
such tools is authorized by the Executive Leadership Team or
its designee. Similarly, in our purely personal communications
through social media, we may not share Hill-Rom confidential
information or give the appearance that we are speaking on
Hill-Rom’s behalf.
November 2011
Hill-Rom Global Code of Conduct 33