Erica Salmon Byrne on 2023 World’s Most Ethical Companies

FCPA Compliance Report

Welcome to the award-winning FCPA Compliance Report, the longest running podcast in compliance. In this episode, I am joined Erica Salmon Byrne, President of Ethisphere, to discuss the World's Most Ethical Companies awards. Byrne explains the evaluation process and what types of areas are investigated. She highlights how the list has fluctuated over the years and the importance of a company's people practices. Through the cross functional scorecard, companies can measure their performance compared to a global index.

We discuss the importance of "ethics premium" and the scorecard process. To measure the value of a company's people practices, the survey demonstrated an outperformance of 13.6% against a comparable global index. Byrne also gives information to listeners on where to find more information on the world's most ethical companies. Tune into this episode of the FCPA Compliance Report and learn more about the World's Most Ethical Companies.

Key Highlights

1. What is the World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition?
2. How long has Ethisphere recognized the World’s Most Ethical Companies?
3. What are criteria Ethisphere considers during the evaluation process? What is the evaluation framework.
4. What are the benefits of applying for the World’s Most Ethical Companies?
5. Even if a company is not selected, what are some of the benefits?
6. What is the Ethics Premium and what was the 2023 Ethics Premium?

Notable Quotes

"What does the recognition itself mean? So, you know, it's really interesting, Tom. Because I I've asked a lot of honorary companies about that. And I particularly liked the way 1 company phrased it to me when I was talking to them last week, and they said, look, there are lots and lots of times that companies get recognized for messing up."

"We're looking at the ways you are thinking about, your impact on the communities in which you operate. We are looking at your ethics and compliance program initiatives. We're looking at the way you are governing your programs both at the board level and at the C suite level. We're looking at your leadership and your reputation."

"I've had multiple compliance officers tell me that their best self-assessment work is just reading the red line of our survey every year and asking themselves would I answer this new question from Ethisphere?"

"Are there questions on this survey I can't answer without going and speaking to somebody else? Do I know who that person is? And if not, why not? Because all of those relationships are critical relationships to operating your program well."

Episode Links

World’s Most Ethical Companies

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices