A code of ethics outlines the ethical principles that govern employee behavior in the workplace. It often includes the company’s values, as well as the policies meant to guide employees in how they make decisions and conduct themselves at work. The purpose of a code of ethics is to have a comprehensive and formal way of telling employees and stakeholders what their expectations are around how people will behave in the workplace.

A strong code of ethics will be memorable and inspire employees to live by its espoused values in their daily lives. This will hopefully prevent unethical behaviors that could hurt customer relations, scare away ethical employees, and ultimately tarnish the reputation of your company. In a new article recently, published, Jeff Rumage explains how to write a Code of Ethics and provides several examples of how this can be implemented.