No matter your international political persuasion or personal beliefs, President Trump’s impeachment has shown that awareness of ethics still plays an important role in American governance.
While Capitol Hill braces itself for the forthcoming stramash among Democrats and Republicans, s1jobs has been looking at the role of ethics in business. In particular, we asked ourselves: can ethics equal profits?
Our conclusion? A resounding yes!
Don’t believe the naysayers who worship the bottom line above all else. An ethical approach to business, whether that’s in manufacturing, sales, retail, recruitment or accountancy, is entirely compatible with making a healthy profit.
SMEs and large organisations that adopt a philosophy based on ‘doing the right thing’ have shown they can be far more successful than rivals who choose to operate in an ethical vacuum.
As Donald should know by now, as with most things in life being ethical begins with leadership and education.
The CEO or MD, working with senior directors in HR, finance and recruitment, is responsible for building a foundation of ethical work practices that act as a positive example for all employees.
This goes far beyond Tweeting directives or creating a company handbook on appropriate behaviour; it means building trust.
Reward hard work. Never renege on a deal. Follow through on pledges made.
When employees at all levels of the business believe their senior management to be trustworthy, they grow a genuine interest in the business, knowing their work will be noticed and extra input appreciated. They become trustworthy.
This culture naturally permeates into the company’s relationship with clients and customers, who are attracted to doing business with a company they can trust – after all, the very definition of trust is a belief in reliability and truthfulness.
You can build trust by promoting clarity and transparency. A major problem with President Trump’s responses to negative criticism – a stance that ultimately led to his articles of impeachment – has been the lack of clear documents.
Working with HR and your marketing and PR team, re-evaluate all of your printed and online material. This might include your website, brochures, advertising and other corporate documents.
Ensure all of these are up to date, precise, easy to understand and in no way misrepresent or overreach on your company or what you can offer.
Whatever services or products are highlighted in these documents should, of course, stand up to scrutiny: being able to meet obligations not only builds trust it builds profits by creating new sales and brand loyalty.
Finally, while the POTUS, aka Mr. Trump, may or may not have the opportunity to seek a second term in office, your business can enjoy a long-term tenure by hiring new talent – employees who understand and put their trust in ethical business.
Forget impeachment. Make life peachy with recruitment opportunities on s1jobs.