The amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regulating electronic discovery (e-discovery) have gone into effect as of December 1, 2006. These are some of the most profound changes to the federal rules in decades and directly focus on “electronically stored information” (ESI) and its discoverability in all federal lawsuits. Five key issues are important to understand about how these rules impact records management, controls and policies in companies. Suggested actions are provided to help ensure that your organization properly educates employees about the rules in order to remain in compliance with them.

Educating employees about ethics and compliance is a fundamental component in developing ethical corporate cultures. An effective education program teaches employees not only to understand the letter of the laws governing their work, but to adopt the spirit of those laws in their daily actions and decisions. An ethics and compliance education program that engages employees in becoming stewards of their corporate values promotes a workplace of accountability that reduces the risks of wrongdoing and promulgates responsible business conduct. This paper reviews LRN’s approach to workforce education, highlighting nine key features that distinguish our courses. Particular emphasis is placed on showing how LRN education is based on the leading models of cognitive psychology, instructional design and adult learning practices.

Given the heightened attention placed on the control environment in corporate governance, the time is right to strengthen the relationship between ethics and compliance officers and their boards of directors. Today’s boards require new perspectives on the importance of culture, new ways to assess effectiveness and new approaches to engage the organization in corporate values. This paper reviews a wide range of strategies and tactics to help ethics and compliance officers step up to this potential new role available to them.

Any procedure that captures or stores reported information or investigation data electronically (referred to by the CNIL as an “automated system”) must comply with the CNIL requirements for operating a whistleblowing system. Whether the system is internally developed or provided by a third-party, a number of requirements must be in place in order to support the CNIL Single Authorization procedure. This paper captures these specific requirements and functionality so as to allow an organization to configure a helpline solution that they can confidently register with the CNIL, including English translations of the forms on the CNIL website.

Companies have been writing codes of business conduct for decades, but the role they play in shaping corporate culture is changing dramatically. This paper assesses the impact of codes of conduct and code education on corporate cultures. It suggests ways that organizations can improve the effectiveness of their code programs, with specific examples drawn from successful codes implemented in a variety of companies.

One of the most challenging aspects of managing ethics and compliance is gaining the necessary support throughout the organization to adopt the values and model the business conduct the company seeks to ingrain in its culture. This paper reviews several strategies that ethics and compliance professionals can employ to enlist resources and form coalitions to reinforce their efforts.

Companies operating in foreign countries find that understanding and complying with variant laws, managing employees far from headquarters, serving customers and relating to suppliers and partners in multiple jurisdictions can introduce significant challenges to developing shared corporate values and realizing a truly global culture. This paper reviews three key issues for multinationals: how to foster a culture of ethical conduct in all countries of operation; how to engage a global workforce in understanding and adopting its corporate values; and how to meet the web of complex legal and compliance obligations that may exist in all its locations.

Developing an internal system requires much more than installing a toll-free telephone and answering machine. To effectively meet the best practice guidelines for installing and utilizing an internally sponsored helpline, managers and directors must consider first how the organization will manage 24/7 intake of reported information. Also critical are how reported information will be distributed to authorized individuals and how follow-up questions may be posed to an anonymous reporter. In order to receive protections under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the organization must also document the steps taken in review and resolution, and securely retain this information. This paper helps readers weigh whether to utilize a third-party solution to embrace industry-wide best practices, or to develop an internal helpline independently.

Companies today have compelling incentives to conduct internal investigations and to self-report ethics, compliance and other violations. Regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Revised International Capital Framework (Basel II) mandate policies and processes to address such incidents.

An effective ethics and compliance process helps companies meet compliance regulations and offers distinct business advantages. Growing data demonstrates a link between ethical business cultures and corporate success, and indicates an ethical culture enhances business performance. To achieve these results, leading organizations build ethics and compliance into a cycle of oversight - define, prevent, detect, respond and evaluate - that promotes a culture of principled performance.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines offer substantial incentives for companies to develop and maintain effective ethics and compliance programs, but how can companies determine if their programs are “effective?” Companies can assess the effectiveness of their programs and establish and promote operational excellence by using performance measures to gauge and encourage improvement.

The use of legal research as a proactive tool in an effective risk management program is new and growing. The timely use of legal research may result in better understanding and decision making and improve risk management effectiveness.

This study explores the impact that corporate ethics have on the ability of American workers to stay focused on the job and work free from distraction.

A recent study from LRN has revealed the business impact of ethical corporate cultures.  More specifically, it explores the impact that corporate ethics have on the ability of companies to attract and retain employees and ensure productivity on the job.

In the past, companies have measured the effectiveness of their ethics and compliance education programs by examining employee course attendance and completion rates. In effect, success was being determined by tallying who showed up. Today, companies need to go beyond head counts to ensure the effectiveness of their ethics and compliance education. They must focus on instilling the underlying values of an ethical business culture into the fabric of the organization.

Simply having a code of conduct doesn’t guarantee that employees will comply with it, or even that they will understand the issues driving it. So how can an organization turn its code of conduct into a relevant, engaging guide that inspires a workforce toward principled behavior? What type of content and language can win over pessimistic or cynical workers who view such a code as unnecessary, restrictive or even irrelevant?

Efforts to engage the workforce in ethics and compliance directly benefit from employee helplines. Often established to meet requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, helplines give employees a means to report potential misconduct and ask questions freely about ethical situations they face on the job, empowering them to become active partners in fostering an ethical corporate culture.

More than ever, organizations are focusing on nurturing corporate cultures that value ethical and responsible business conduct – recognizing the positive implications for relationships with employees and customers, corporate reputation and overall company performance.

Forward-looking companies are seeking to evolve business from soft art to hard science as a means to win in the marketplace, improve competitive advantage, achieve higher market valuations, ensure employee retention, foster fruitful partnerships and strengthen customer satisfaction.

The Amended Organizational Sentencing Guidelines for Executive Management provides a broad perspective of the Guidelines along with points to consider in assessing the effectiveness of a company’s ethics and compliance program, corporate culture and business practices.

The Amended Organizational Sentencing Guidelines  for Boards of Directors outlines the Board's role in assessing the effectiveness of a company’s ethics and compliance program, corporate culture and business practices.