Successful organizations share many things in common, some of which include sustainable and resilient business practices and exemplary customer service, often supported by quality products and services. At the foundation of those practices is a strong, ethics-centered culture.
Though robust E&C programs may not be the first thing a non-compliance officer thinks of when defining a successful company, ethics and compliance truly lays the groundwork for long-term success. For example, compliance training and an introduction to a company’s code of conduct is often the first glimpse into company culture for a new employee – cementing the organizational values and setting the tone from the beginning of employment. While ongoing training is required to maintain regulatory compliance, it also serves as an ongoing cultural touchpoint for existing employees.
The Business Value of E&C
Today, organizations have an opportunity to define and pursue their purpose – whether that be the product or service provided, or the internal mindset of how employees are treated (or both!). Doing so with ethics and compliance in mind is one way to ensure sustainable operations and growth and a culture that attracts and retains top talent.
“Conversely, the consequences of a poor business culture are a narrow pipeline of top talent and a lack of compliance with company guidelines, laws and regulations and social norms, which heighten overall business risk. Yet, as few as 12% of organizations feel they’re driving the “right culture,” one that promotes communication, inclusivity, frequent training and high business values,” says Sean Thompson, president and chief operating officer at NAVEX.
The business value for ethics and compliance at the core of company culture has never been clearer. To celebrate the achievements of our customers that have thoughtfully built powerful ethics and compliance programs, today NAVEX announced the 2022 Customer Excellence Awards.
2022 NAVEX Customer Excellence Awards
“Organizations with exemplary risk and compliance programs understand that their programs create business value and strategic advantage,” says Steve Chapman, chief customer officer at NAVEX.
This year’s awards will feature some categories from 2021, as well as new categories to better celebrate the impact our customers have on their E&C initiatives. In addition to Excellence in Ethics and Compliance and Excellence in Integrated Risk Management, this year NAVEX is introducing two new award categories.
Environmental, Social & Governance
New this year, this category recognizes organizations’ inclusion of strong ESG-based principles in business goals and decision making, and the capacity to support this alignment with data from across the organization.
GRC Program of the Year
This award recognizes organizations for their exceptional ability to break down silos across the business to align ethics and compliance, integrated risk management and/or environmental, social and governance initiatives, resulting in a comprehensive risk and compliance management program that provides efficiency and actionable insights. This category will replace the Corporate Culture Impact award and is intended to evaluate nominees for their overall Governance, Risk and Compliance program success.
Introducing the Judges
Just as the nominations represent a diverse group of customers, our judges provide a wealth of experience and expertise in GRC. This year, nominations will be evaluated by:
- Karen Alonardo, VP, ESG Solutions at NAVEX
- Stephen Chapman, Chief Customer Officer, NAVEX
- Vera Cherepanova, Ethics Advocate, Consultant, Author, Studio Etica
- Matt Kelly, Editor & CEO, Radical Compliance
- Carrie Penman, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, NAVEX
- Michael Volkov, Owner & CEO, The Volkov Law Group
- Kyle Welch, Professor, George Washington School of Business
- Marcia Narine Weldon, Professor at the, University of Miami Law School
- Carol Williams, CEO & Enterprise Risk Management Consultant, Strategic Decision Solutions
NAVEX Recognizes Excellence
In 2021, we recognized best-in-class customer programs that represented excellence in using ethics and compliance to anchor the business around company values. Let’s take a look back at these award-winning programs:
Ethics & Compliance
This category recognizes the exceptional ability to identify and mitigate risks, provide meaningful insights into corporate culture and drive risk aware decision making through E&C programs. For this category, we celebrated two winners representing North American and international organizations.
Last year, we recognized FIS as the North American winner, for putting employee well-being at the forefront by using their Ethics Helpline as a way for employees to voice concerns confidentially throughout the pandemic. This allowed them to build a program around the principle that employees are a company’s first line of defense.
Genpact International addressed many business and program challenges by implementing EthicsPoint as an intake platform for concerns and case management, making them the international winner. They saw significant adoption across their organization and leveraged their Helpline along with speak-up initiatives to maximize their program success.
Integrated Risk Management
This category recognizes the exceptional ability to adapt to specific risk landscapes, bring visibility to risk across the organization and use informed data to influence decisions that ultimately make for a more resilient and successful business.
For our first annual Excellence in Integrated Risk Management award, we recognized Global Atlantic Financial Group for their implementation and consolidation of 12 manual interfaces and effectively streamlining workflows that were transparent and provided real-time insights. By doing so, they broke down silos, implemented time-saving processes, and provided a better user experience – resulting in clear-cut quantified results.
Corporate Culture Impact
This award recognized companies that demonstrated forward-thinking leadership and a holistic approach to risk and compliance management. These firms have created and maintained a coordinated, enterprise-wide program addressing multiple risk areas including internal reporting, third-party risk management, employee training, ESG and more. For this category, we recognized two winners from international and North American organizations.
We recognized Serco Group, Plc for their work in overcoming reputational damages, and implementing an effective program centered around behaviors that reflect their values. They used a people-centric strategy that prioritized organizational trust to rehabilitate their corporate culture, processes, and governance – demonstrating true resiliency and unparalleled dedication to proactive ethics, compliance, and risk management.
Our North American winner for Corporate Culture Impact was JELD-WEN, for their cross-departmental collaboration to make their case management awareness globally accessible – across 20 countries. They effectively identified trends in reporting, and kept their board informed along the way. They also leveraged customized training to educate their broad employee audience on compliance concerns such as data privacy, competition law, and anti-corruption. With the use of RiskRate, they were able to speed up third-party approval processes and establish workflows among their field, Procurement and Legal teams.
Nominate Your Program
This year’s winners will be announced at the 2022 NAVEX Next Global Virtual Conference in late September 2022. All NAVEX customers are eligible for the awards and encouraged to submit their nomination by July 29, 2022.
