3 strategies for maintaining an ethical culture in a remote or hybrid workplace
The data is disturbing: Workforce pressure, turnover, and burnout are at an all-time high. Couple that with economic concerns and recent high-profile layoffs, and we have the ingredients of a potentially dangerous stew. Employees, feeling disengaged from their in-office colleagues and anxious to prove their “virtual” value to supervisors–might make suspect ethical choices, guarding their own success instead of organizational integrity.
Early surveys on the impact of remote working on misconduct are just starting to surface this peril. According to a report by incident service report Vault Platform, 51% of employees have experienced misconduct since the start of the pandemic. Consultancy firm Gartner reported that they’re less likely to report it due to low employee engagement.
As one client told me, she discovered that one of her remote employees recently took a “side hustle” gig doing web design for a company supplier. As she shared, “there’s no way that would have occurred if we were in-office. We normally lunched together at least once a week and for sure that would have come up in conversation. If we only had talked about it, he would have quickly seen the conflict of interest.”
Creating and maintaining an ethical culture isn’t easy for any leader, but it’s even more challenging in a remote or hybrid work environment. How can you help steer your team with confidence to help them make the right ethical choices, even when you’re not looking?
In my work as an ethics and compliance consultant for major companies, I’ve seen three strategies that work. By using these techniques, leaders can keep the focus on keeping ethics alive and well while breaking down barriers between in-person, hybrid, and virtual employee groups that may set the stage for misconduct later.
1. PRIORITIZE ETHICAL CONVERSATIONS FOR NEW EMPLOYEES
It’s great that HR and compliance have a role in stressing ethical practices as part of the onboarding process. But that’s where the ethical journey begins, not ends. With so much turnover and reshuffling of employees, new people are rapidly arriving into remote settings, which only adds to a sense of isolation.
Scheduling a structured one-on-one virtual time between each new hire and their direct supervisor to talk specifically about the importance of “how business gets done” demonstrates that ethics is everyone’s responsibility.
For example, a client of mine, a procurement manager, shares the following message with all of his remote hires:
Hey, around here, we care about success with integrity, so I just wanted to check in and make sure you know that support is only a click or call away if you ever need help with an ethical dilemma. If you ever have the slightest doubt about a choice you’re considering, I want to be your first go-to call. I won’t judge or think less of you. The fact that you called to ask will only earn more of my respect.
These virtual exchanges are incredibly critical. After all, who do people turn to when they face an ethical dilemma? Their supervisors. And as I observed in my own career, when conversations around ethical business practices come from the corporate narrative–and not just the compliance one–they sound so much louder to the workforce.
2. HOLD REGULAR “WHAT WOULD YOU DO?” SESSIONS
As a leader, you should regularly structure conversations about potential challenges with employees that might arise within their daily routines. Where might they cut corners? Where are commercial pressures tempting compromise? If you talk about these challenges routinely, people can brainstorm hypothetical responses and reactions, making it much more likely that they will act on their values by exploring risky situations and real-world temptations. As Mary Gentile shares in her iconic work, Giving Voice to Values, “the very act of talking to others who share our concerns helps us to see beyond the pressures of our own context.”
One client of mine hosts occasional hybrid pizza lunches (sending pizzas to the homes of remote workers) to talk about ethics, where a compliance and business peer co-lead each session, bringing teams together from across locales, divisions, and functions. Each “lunch and learn” explores “What would you do?” in messy scenarios, often anonymized from within their own organization.
Creating such connections across hybrid boundaries fosters a sense of broader camaraderie, which leads to an increase in truthfulness and getting to know colleagues outside our immediate teams. When employees have strong connections and bonds with one another, they are far less likely to do anything that might breach that trust or cause harm. That also cascades to fewer safety incidents, better client engagement, and an increase in profitability.
3. USE FREQUENT FEEDBACK AND TECHNOLOGY TO DETECT EARLY SIGNALS OF TROUBLE
In a hybrid workplace, leaders need frequent and reliable feedback to spot early signs of concern. Mechanisms like mini-pulse surveys and real-time feedback apps can help augment global surveys by providing timely data points on how employees are feeling or struggling with ethical decision-making.
For example, learning that there are financial worries about continued employment and achieving goals can be an early signal of more desperate, dishonest choices later down the road, pointing to a need for increased training. Gathering insightful feedback on where your employees might need greater ethical support, and where you might want to institute mentorships can create a powerful and preemptive barrier to protect the ethical fabric you’ve worked so hard to create.
Keeping ethics and integrity strong in an environment where we are physically and emotionally disconnected isn’t an easy task. By moving ethical discussions to the forefront, regularly war-gaming challenging situations that employees might face, and making smart use of data to track worrisome trends, can help you adapt in real-time and ensure that you’re creating and maintaining a culture where employees want to–and will–do the right thing.