IM-Waitzer and Wildeboer_2024_0429.pub

It has since become a governance preoccupation, spawning armies of compliance professionals, commanding a substantial portion of every board’s agenda and costing hundreds of billions of dollars. [...] Elaborate legal mechanisms – such as sentencing guidelines, whistleblowing regimes and personal liability of directors and management – aim at preventing employee wrongdoing and heightening oversight by directors and senior management to ensure internal systems are effective. [...] The key – no surprise here – is to treat people the way you would want to be treated: with dignity and mindful of their own sometimes differing values and expectations, regardless of their status, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or political views, but also making sure all employees understand they are expected to adhere to basic precepts of integrity and mutual respect. [...] When people know you value their safety and are willing to devote real resources to assure it, building a culture of trust and candor becomes much easier. [...] It is also increasingly challenging to achieve, in part because it requires sustained effort to look beyond the law – ticking boxes on a mandated compliance checklist – and to focus hard on values, relationships and workplace psychology, which are what really matter.