Turning around the loss of trust in government, corporations and institutions could deliver Australians significant economic and social dividends.  The Ethical Advantage’s exclusive new economic modelling by Deloitte Access Economics shows that if our leaders, businesses, institutions and everyday Australians made more ethical decisions, our GDP, wages, corporate returns and mental health would improve.

For the first time, the report quantifies the benefits of ethics for individuals and for the nation. An increase in ethical behaviour could raise Australians’ average income by $1,800 a year, lifting GDP by $45 billion. An increase in a company’s performance based on ethical perceptions can increase return on assets by about 7%. The modelling also reveals a host of individual and collective benefits for Australians across wages, trust and mental health.

The report also identifies five interlinked areas for improvement for Australia and its approach to ethics, supported by 30 individual initiatives. Download a copy to learn more.

A solid Ethics Framework offers a clear statement of what an organisation believes in and what standards it applies. It’s a roadmap for good decisions, and if it’s lived throughout an organisation, it’s also a guide to making that organisation the best version of itself.

Fundamental to good business, every organisation should have an Ethics Framework to guide decision making; from Apple, Amazon and ANZ, to the Nedlands Netball Association.

Ethics in the Boardroom: A Decision-Making Guide has been developed in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Designed to support directors in considering ethical issues as they discharge their duties, it invites them to view the decisions they come up against through four key lenses.

This report is a vital resource for directors as a general reference, should be utilised by boards to strengthen their capacity in ethics, and by individual directors and boards alike to inform conversations about the complex issues they encounter in their roles.

The Ethics Alliance is a corporate community, designed to share challenges and take a collaborative approach to finding solutions. At our inaugural gathering, an Alliance member called out the crippling impact late payments was having on his business. Through conversation, it became evident this was an issue shared by many members and unintentionally caused by others, and was a problem we wanted to help solve.

This guidebook came together after a series of interviews with members and a follow up roundtable discussion that explored both systemic and principle-based solutions. It examines some of the procurement-based issues identified through that process, looking at the causes of ethical tension and offering frameworks for each stage of the procurement process.

Formulated as a practical solution, the paper considers common challenges including:

• Should companies have an open tender and invite all to bid, or save time and money by targeting known suppliers?
• Should companies accept the cheapest complying bid, or pay more to a company that distributes a proportion of its profits to a good cause?
• Should companies be transparent in their dealings with suppliers, or will this open them up to disputes?
• Is it reasonable for companies to impose a significant administrative burden in the first round of a tender process by asking for information which is not directly relevant to the project in question?

Plus, it provides a framework to make payment processes fair, practical and ethical.

Culture is a key determinant in the performance of an organisation, and of its ability to achieve its purpose. Yet all too often we see companies with a living culture and set of behaviours that is disconnected from the values and principles it aims to uphold. Where strong ethical cultures thrive, the system and processes of the organisation align closely with their purpose, values and principles – what we call, their ethical framework.  

The Managing Culture guide is for all organisations looking to establish a thriving workplace culture. Produced in conjunction with the Institute for Internal Auditors – Australia, Governance Institute of Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand, it’s a practical guide to how every group within an organisation can contribute to good culture.

The guide explores why and how an ethical framework – as opposed to a code of ethics or code of conduct – should sit at the heart of the governance of every organisation. It offers practical direction on how an organisation might understand their current state of affairs, and monitor culture going forward. It provides support on how to achieve an ideal culture in alignment with an organisation’s ethical framework, and how all areas of business from the board through to management, HR, internal and external audit can play a vital role.

The survey, undertaken by the Institute of Business Ethics in partnership with our team at The Ethics Centre, asks what are employees’ attitudes to and perceptions of ethics in their place of work? Do they feel able to speak up if they have been aware of misconduct? Are formal ethics programs effective in embedding ethical values into organisational culture and influencing behaviour? What are the challenges and what should be the focus going forward?

This report forms part of a broader collection of publications covering parts of Europe, the UK, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand which aim to develop an understanding of employees’ attitudes to, and perceptions of, ethics in the workplace. The Ethics Centre is proud to be the first national partner to glean valuable insights into the Australian experience, and how we compare with other countries around the globe.

We know that fundamental questions are being asked: What went wrong? Who’s responsible? How do we restore trust? Our research suggests the concept of trust may be less relevant than that of ‘legitimacy’. Where trust is the belief that people/organisations will meet their obligations, legitimacy is the right to claim a status, role or function. Legitimacy, in other words, grants business the social license to operate.

This whitepaper offers insights on the current issues of trust and loss of limited liability, and a framework to participate in the current market economy. Discover the four fundamental values and principles you need to minimise the risk of corporate failure and the potential for unlimited liability. Learn how your purpose, values and principles can be used to guide behaviour and work through the most difficult decisions within an organisation.