We call this Active Integrity.

Adopting this new approach by focusing on active risk mitigation will support your organization’s most critical resilience, profitability, efficiency, and workforce needs. But how do you go about implementing this shift?

Uncover every incident and reduce risks early

Becoming aware of your business’s major risks requires active participation from various stakeholders, so having the right tools to empower everyone in your ecosystem is crucial. A reliable, multichannel solution can ensure that misconduct is uncovered at all levels by all stakeholders. Vault Platform allows for anonymous reporting through the mobile app, Open Reporting web app, or through manual creation following a confidential conversation. With real-time data analytics, your team can then uncover high-risk areas and patterns of misconduct.

Tap into the data and weed out root causes

You can now investigate the data and quickly manage cases through to resolution, with cross-department collaboration. People and HR teams can contribute by funneling reports from their respective channels into Vault Platform to centralize and standardize misconduct data. Communication with reporters (even those who choose to remain anonymous) throughout the investigation process is crucial to show them that their reports are taken seriously and acted upon.

Be transparent with stakeholders and regulators

Transparency and collaboration are fundamental to Active Integrity, and keeping executives, shareholders, and regulators well informed about your compliance efforts is key. Vault Platform offers audit reports functionality that generates reports automatically, saving time and reducing the risk of manual data entry errors. Integration of Vault Platform with other core business platforms, such as HRIS and payroll solutions, allows for seamless data connectivity across the organization.

Nurture a healthy ecosystem

Establishing a robust, accessible process around Speak Up and demonstrating that risk areas are being effectively investigated, identified, and prevented, will encourage a mindset shift among your stakeholders. This shift will be reflected in increased report submissions and improved resolution times. Active Integrity is an ongoing process, continuously changing attitudes and driving exponential change in your business, one case at a time.

Vault Platform has already helped organizations from various sectors center their business approach around Active Integrity, fostering action and accountability to create organizations that contribute to a better world.

Discover how Active Integrity can help your business overcome its biggest challenges with Vault Platform.

The post How to move from Reactive Mitigation to Active Integrity appeared first on Vault.

Kevin is a purpose-led senior lawyer and ethics and compliance executive with a passion for building positive work cultures with strong climates of integrity. He advocates for a modern approach to Speak Up and orchestrated TI Fluid System’s adoption of Vault Platform. The organization is now setting the tone for the rest of the automotive sector through its innovative compliance programs.

He said: “We’re maintaining momentum and traction in our efforts to build a culture of ethics and make headway in keeping colleagues engaged.”

Kevin is also the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of Diversity X, supporting underestimated founders of purpose-led start-ups. He applies his world travels and deep insights into the shift towards human leadership and the demand for businesses to align their purpose with making the world a better place for everyone.

TI Fluid Systems is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of automotive fluid systems technology with nearly 100 years of automotive fluid systems experience and manufacturing facilities in 28 countries.

Check out some of our other Integrity Innovator blog posts here.

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Airbnb is a brand that needs no introduction. The online marketplace for homestays has invested heavily in its ethical health and has embedded integrity in the way it does business. The brand wants to promote a culture within the Airbnb community that goes above and beyond mere compliance.

Alongside the Airbnb team, Jennifer has built a compliance program that goes beyond legal requirements; from prevention and detection to transparent and direct responses to reports of misconduct. Jennifer leads with empathy and is motivated by the continuous challenge to innovate with data-driven systems and standards that incentivize accountability. She likes to use brain teasers and hypotheticals to bring the Airbnb Code of Ethics and other policies to life.

She said: “Over the last five years, I’ve developed a real passion for teaching. I love leveraging my experience as an instructor at Harvard’s Trial Advocacy Workshop in presentations I make to Airbnb employees across the globe. I take care to tell every member of the audience that their voice matters; that we want – and need – to hear from them, before detailing how, when, and to whom to raise any concern or complaint. These presentations proactively prevent policy violations. They also help create a culture in which we feel inspired, encouraged, and empowered to speak up whenever any of us fall short. Whether or not the word is in your job title, ethics is everyone’s responsibility.”

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Zendesk is a world-renowned Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company with over 5,000 employees worldwide. The software can help businesses build better relationships with their customers via text, phone, email, live chat, and social media.

Hemma is passionate about leading with the art of ethical decision-making and promotes ethical leadership and a culture of active bystandership. Fascinated by the role of integrity in the context of corporate social responsibility, Hemma designs innovative global compliance programs that make people feel psychologically safe and brings a creative edge to risk mitigation.

Last year, she launched the Kind Business Ambassador program, which leverages the strengths of the Zendesk team and increases the ways to be seen, heard, and valued.

Prior to moving in-house, Hemma served for just over a decade prosecuting financial fraud and corruption with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and has previously worked as Parliamentary Counsel for the UK government.

When asked about the biggest challenges facing ethics and compliance right now, she said: “One of the biggest challenges for businesses will be instilling and maintaining trust with a workforce that is insecure and burned out, especially in the tech sector, with recent layoffs and hits on revenue and stock prices. It’s important for E&C professionals and leaders to decide how we can best support our colleagues when they’re asked to do more with less.”

Check out some of our other Integrity Innovator blog posts here.

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Driven by a personal manifesto to lead with positive psychology and happiness, Gustavo shapes the culture of OLX through anti-corruption partnerships and renewed investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Having worked in risk analysis, risk management, compliance, internal controls, internal audits, investigations, and more, Gustavo is always keen to find new ways of reinventing ethics and compliance functions. His current focus is on leveling up OLX’s Speak Up program for 2023.

When asked about the challenges facing ethics and compliance professionals, Gustavo said: “With advances in technology, the associated risks have become increasingly complex and concerns are no longer solely data-centric. For example, despite its adaptive predictive power and autonomous learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not work in the same way as human intelligence. Without proper safeguards, an AI system can introduce cognitive risks that could have legal implications for an organization. To guard against these risks, organizations need to make informed and cautious decisions about the design, development, implementation, and use of a wide variety of emerging technologies.“

The post Integrity Innovators 2023: Up close with Gustavo Lucena appeared first on Vault.

Fraser’s work on ethics initiatives is a driving force for change. He’s brought a new approach to Speak Up at Wellcome, moving the organization away from a hotline and adopting digital channels that provide proactive insights for the business.

His innovative ethics-focused initiatives include ‘The Only Way is Ethics’ – open discussions between staff and board members and external speakers who talk about different integrity topics, including fraud, modern slavery, and ethical standards. Fraser and his team then link each session’s topic to Wellcome’s mission and values, demonstrating why integrity is so important to the organization and how everyone can be accountable and have a direct impact. This kind of dialogue around integrity and accountability in the workplace is raising the bar for foundations and nonprofits.

Fraser said: “We’re continuing to try ‘humanise’ what we’re doing – to truly embed our process of engaging mindsets (in particular through storytelling and role-modeling), sparking conversations, and providing simple and human tools for changing behaviours and habits in the moments that matter.”

Fraser is inspired by the wonderful Wellcome team, who consistently inspire great ideas and motivation.

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Last week, I was overjoyed to be named one of Inc.’s Female Founders 200. It’s a real honor to see my name listed amongst these amazing female entrepreneurs, leaders, trailblazers, and forces of change in their respective industries.

I’ve always placed a lot of importance on being a female founder. Being a woman has never been a disadvantage in my journey as a startup founder and I’ve never hit a glass ceiling in my career. And yet, I’ve always been very aware of them and can’t shy away from them.

For example, women-founded startups raised 1.9% of all VC funds in 2022, a drop from 2021. Last year, U.S. startups with all-women teams received 1.9% (or around $4.5 billion) out of around the $238.3 billion in venture capital allocated.

Equality in the modern workplace is the core reason why I founded Vault; giving a voice to underrepresented people is part of who we are and why we do what we do. In the past year, we’ve supported some of the world’s largest companies as they weave Active Integrity into their fabric, resulting in tens of thousands of people now having access to misconduct reporting mechanisms at their fingertips. I’m pleased to say that six of the seven leaders on the Vault leadership team are female and that we have an all-female Board of Directors – practically unheard of in the tech sector!

Handily, I’m surrounded by some amazing, trend-setting female founders who have helped me along the way. One of our core values at Vault is to be both the master and the student, and this applies to my journey as a founder too. I’m pleased to be able to dedicate some hours each week to helping other women in their early-stage startups, whether with pitch decks, strategic advice, or whatever else I can offer.

It’s a tough economic climate right now, especially in tech. But the women recognized on this list and many that aren’t – everyone currently weathering this storm or even thriving in it – is a testament to the resilience of female founders and the modern business owner.

You no longer have to ‘lead like a man’. Instead, find your way to lead like a woman. Or just lead like you. Being kind, compassionate, and assertive aren’t at odds with one another and actually make for good attributes regardless of a leader’s gender. And ultimately, that’s what makes good business.

If you want to know more about our Active Integrity approach in more detail, check out our Active Integrity: A New Code of Ethics for Forward-Thinking Businesses ebook.

The post What being named one of Inc’s Female Founders 200 means to me appeared first on Vault.

Wavering trust

Our Trust Gap survey demonstrated that a rift exists between employees and employers which is costing US businesses $20 billion a year on rehiring alone. It also revealed that a third of workers believed their organization would brush aside workplace misconduct if it was likely to impact profits or reputation and that 63% of workplace misconduct incidents are never reported.

Zendesk’s Hemma Ramrattan Lomax said: “One of the biggest challenges for businesses will be instilling and maintaining trust with a workforce that is insecure and burned out, especially in the tech sector, with recent layoffs and hits on revenue and stock prices. It’s important for E&C professionals and leaders to decide how we can best support our colleagues when they’re asked to do more with less.”

Adam Balfour from Bridgestone Americas added: “Trust levels are low and stakeholder expectations of organizations are increasing. While this is a significant challenge in 2023, it’s also an opportunity to really focus on being trustworthy, taking ethics and compliance seriously, and being a purpose-driven and people-focused organization.”

Organizations today need to continue to place a significant focus on trust, considering carefully how they build and maintain it with employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, and the world at large. Read more about the importance of rebuilding trust in our recent blog post.

Changing expectations

As Hemma alluded to, recent layoffs in the tech industry have many people worried about job security. Moreover, conscious quitting has been making headlines as more people choose to work for organizations that better represent their personal values. Organizations yet to truly understand just how crucial it is to build and maintain their workforce are falling behind while others that are actively choosing to align their values with those of the people in their ecosystems thrive.

Fraser Simpson from the Wellcome Trust said: “We’re focusing on humanising what we’re doing and truly embedding our process of engaging mindsets through storytelling and role-modeling, sparking conversations, and providing access to simple tools for changing behaviours and habits in the moments that matter.”

Similarly, Kevin Withane from TI Fluid Systems said: “We’re maintaining momentum and traction in our efforts to build a culture of ethics and make headway in keeping colleagues engaged.”

Another consideration for worldwide businesses is how to ensure policies and initiatives are both standardized and yet localized. Billy Hughes from Victoria’s Secret said: “After a few years of restricted travel due to the pandemic, I’m excited to get our team back into the field, visit more of our global offices, and find innovative ways to better localize our programs.”

Political divides and legislative changes

There has been a backlash in recent months, primarily from Republicans in the US, against the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing movement. However, executives say ESG Is here to stay.

Rob Chesnut said: “ESG shouldn’t be partisan – the biggest challenge is to help keep ESG from being dragged into our fractious politics. We can disagree about what ESG may mean for different companies with different cultures in different sectors, but we all should be aligned in the belief that companies have an obligation to stakeholders beyond just their investors.”

Meanwhile, Anna Romberg, co-founder of the Nordic Business Ethics Network, foresees a tsunami of ESG-related regulation in the near future.

And ESG isn’t the only area in which our Integrity Innovators predict major legislative changes. Jennifer Lane, a former federal prosecutor, highlighted The Department of Justice’s recent settlement with Meta, which set a new standard for addressing discrimination through machine learning, as well as the significant changes made to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Similarly, Lloydette Bai-Marrow said: “The likely changes to corporate criminal liability in the UK will be a significant challenge for organizations, not to mention the use of artificial intelligence in the E&C field.“

It’s clear that forward-thinking businesses must ensure they remain up to date on and compliant with any relevant changes in ESG legislation regardless of politics.

Moving away from reactive mitigation

When it comes to dealing with issues of workplace misconduct, businesses can no longer afford to take a reactive approach, which involves mitigating incidents rather than active prevention.

Alison Taylor, Executive Director at Ethical Systems said: ”We must reinforce the importance of integrity despite the political backlash and continuously improve the Speak Up culture we’re creating. We need to continue to provide employees with assurance that action will be taken where necessary and that a healthy Speak Up culture works hand in hand with a healthy company culture.”

Aura’s Ling-Ling Nie said: “Some people think that a high-growth culture and a compliance culture cannot co-exist in a productive way. But I am always up for a challenge and will continue to cultivate a healthy ecosystem where both can thrive.”

Jennifer Lane added: “We’ve designed our compliance program to go above and beyond what the law requires. From prevention and detection to our response to reports of misconduct – our perennial challenge is to continue to innovate, with data-driven systems and standards that incentivize accountability.”

Check out our Active Integrity: A New Code of Ethics for Forward-Thinking Businesses ebook to find out more about the benefits of Active Integrity.

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When it comes to ethics and compliance (E&C), the organizations that replace reactive mitigation with active prevention as their operating model are best placed to not only weather the storm but stay competitive. Adopting an Active Integrity approach today will support your organization’s most critical resilience, profitability, efficiency, and workforce needs. Here’s how.

1. Safeguard your business’s future success

According to a 2023 PwC survey of over 4,000 business leaders, some of the biggest threats of the coming decade include business reinvention, growth, and profitability. And with almost 40% of CEOs expressing doubt that their business will survive the next decade without significant reinvention, the reality is that organizations must adapt or die.

One priority area businesses must consider is E&C, as a strong ethical climate is linked to increased customer loyalty. Ethical concerns are also recognized as the highest priority for Gen Z consumers when deciding which businesses they patronize.

It’s clear that ethical accountability is poised to take a central role in how businesses operate in the future. To center integrity as a critical business function successfully, organizations must connect their E&C efforts to key business KPIs and objectives. By capitalizing on real-time data analytics, audit trails, and transparent internal reporting with solutions like Vault Platform, organizations can better demonstrate E&C efforts and outcomes and clearly link these to wider business goals.

2. Reduce the cost of misconduct

Misconduct costs organizations billions each year. According to our Trust Gap report, misconduct could cost US organizations $20.2 billion based on rehiring efforts alone. PwC’s 2020 Global Economic Crime and Fraud survey estimated $42 billion in losses among respondents in a 24-month period. And that’s not all. A 2022 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates that organizations lose 5% of their revenue annually to fraud and in 2020, whistleblower payouts from the IRS hit a landmark $1 billion. When we factor in the intangible costs, including reputational damage and loss of trust from shareholders, employees, and customers, the costs of misconduct can become alarmingly high.

To have E&C truly power the business, organizations must have access to data insights and the ability to communicate directly with reporters. They can then systematically eliminate standalone issues as well as the root causes of misconduct, minimizing the risk of litigation and reputational damage.

3. Recruit and retain a top-performing, engaged workforce

Following a series of layoffs in the tech industry and the rise of conscious quitting, the talent landscape has never been more turbulent. Macroeconomic instability, continued layoffs, shifting working norms, and widening skills gaps have all contributed to chronic talent attraction and retention challenges. At the same time, employees have become more purposeful in terms of the organizations they work for, opting for organizations that are visibly doing good.

Active Integrity is perfectly positioned to help organizations address their core talent challenges. Trust is forged in what you do, not what you say. When organizations approach their E&C efforts from an intentional, purposeful perspective, it communicates to their workforce and prospective employees that they are actively invested in making positive change.

4. Scale efficiency across the whole organization

Misconduct can take an average of 12 months to detect with a hotline in place and whistleblowers can find themselves reporting internally five to six times before taking their concerns outside company borders when nothing gets actioned. These huge efficiency gaps have made it near impossible for organizations to act with purpose and integrity when it comes to E&C issues.

But when organizations introduce a multichannel approach, they’re better able to bridge these internal gaps, meaning they stay compliant without compromising efficiency.

While incumbent solutions often lead to downstream inefficiencies in reporting and tracking, modern software solutions like Vault Platform operate at an internal level and standardize misconduct data, meaning organizations have complete oversight over the end-to-end investigation process. This means they’re able to take a data-driven approach to monitor the company’s ethical health in real time, helping them spot patterns, predict issues, and shift from reactively tackling standalone issues to an active prevention methodology.

Check out our Active Integrity: A new code of ethics for forward-thinking businesses ebook to find out more about the benefits of Active Integrity.

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