During challenging times, bad actors may see the chaos and uncertainty as an opportunity for self-gain. While everyone is busy and even overburdened right now, it is more important than ever to make sure all your team members understand and practice business ethics:
- Make this a priority. Make sure both new hires and existing employees understand company policies. Stress that they need to practice ethical behavior at all times with no exceptions.
- Use real-life, relevant examples. Use examples from the real world to help employees understand how ethical issues apply to them and the ramifications of breaches of ethics. For instance, talk about what would happen if an employee was caught stealing or selling PPE or lied about no having COVID symptoms so they can come to work.
- Walk the walk. Model ethical behavior for your teams.
- Cultivate a culture of ethics. Make sure that ethics policies are enforced evenly across the board and that employees are confident that everyone is treated fairly (regardless of their title or their relationship with the boss). Trust is a key component of an ethical culture. Your workers need to trust that they won’t be dismissed or penalized if they report ethics violations they witness.
