BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 1 Worksheet:
Leadership Commitment to Ethical Practices
Include a personal statement of leadership’s commitment to ethical practices.
1. Provide a personal statement describing the leadership’s commitment to
ethical business practices. Who leads the organization? What are their ethical
beliefs? What drives their passion for the organization? Does leadership seek coaching
or mentoring to improve? Is there a means for getting feedback on leadership
practices from within the organization?
2. Do you participate in workshops, conferences or training on ethics? If so,
please describe and submit a few examples. Briefly describe the workshop content
and why you chose to participate.
3. As a leader, what types of ethical challenges have you or your organization
faced and how were they resolved? Describe a challenge you faced and how you
responded. Did you lead by example? What was your role in resolving the issue?
4. Are there examples of public statements the leader has made that
demonstrate a commitment to ethical practices? Do you mention your
commitment to ethics in your advertising? Does your company have a newsletter,
internal or external? Has your leadership been asked to speak on the subject of ethics?
Has your company or its leadership been the subject of news articles related to ethics?
List these items in your narrative and provide examples as supporting documents.
BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 2 Worksheet:
Communications of Ethical Practices
Describe how your organization uses internal and external communication and/or activities
that help your organization intentionally build and maintain an ethical culture and practice.
1. Describe how new employees are informed and/or trained in the company’s
ethical policies. Do you discuss ethics or values during orientation and/or training of
new staff, volunteers or sales people? Do job descriptions express how a position
and/or its related work fulfills the company’s ethical values?
2. Describe how the CEO/President/owner’s personal code of ethics is
communicated to every employee. How do employees know the company’s (and
owner’s) position on ethics? Do you have an internal company newsletter that
communicates the owner’s message/vision on ethics? Does company leadership
discuss ethics at staff meetings?
3. Are there tools or activities that model, mentor, teach and reinforce defined
character ethics as part of management communication? Do you use a
character code or content with staff meetings? Are the company’s ethics practices
and their impact on the employees, community, industry, etc., discussed regularly?
Describe tools or activities that are used to train employees to communicate according
to the company’s ethics practices (internally & externally). Are personal and corporate
values discussed at strategic planning sessions? Do you have an ethics officer or
ombudsman for addressing ethical issues? For smaller companies, is there someone
besides the owner that an employee can talk to if an ethical issue arises?
4. Are there documented vendor relations manuals, customer policies, and
stakeholder relations procedures? Do you have a guide for how are your vendors
chosen? Is there a process in place to disclose a possible conflict of interest between
staff, a stakeholder, vendor and/or a customer? Describe ethics practices surrounding
fairness and transparency within your organization and industry. Does your website
have a privacy policy? Explain warranties or guarantees surrounding your products or
services and how are employees trained to handle claims/complaints. Does your
organization receive financial gains from an affinity or investment program? Do you
collect online donations or sell online services? If so, what measures do you go
through to protect your donors’ or customers’ identities? Show an example of your
transparency with stakeholders.
BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 3 Worksheet:
Organizational Commitment to Ethical Practices
Describe how your organization’s vision/mission is put into practice.
1. Provide evidence of any organizational statements such as “Vision”,
“Mission”, “Core”, “Business Values”, or “Purpose” in the supporting
document section with pertinent section highlighted. Use your narrative to
describe these statements for your organization, and provide actual examples of where
your company’s mission, vision or values statements are communicated as evidence of
their existence. Consider including a story of how these statements came to be.
Discuss how often they are reviewed and updated. Have these statements always
existed as part of a founder’s vision? Did the company come up with them together?
What changes may have taken place to these statements throughout the company’s
history?
2. Describe how these statements are shared with existing and potential
employees. How are these statements shared with every employee, volunteer, subcontractor, board member, etc.? Do you mention your company’s mission, vision or
values in employment advertisements?
3. Describe what measurements your organization routinely uses to gauge
progress or adherence of vision and mission. Consider how these statements are
shared with people outside your company such as customers, vendors, and suppliers.
Do you stand behind your promises? If so, how do you know you are doing what you
say you will do? What indicators do you monitor?
4. Describe how you solicit feedback collected from the marketplace and staff
and how you use this information to make adjustments to your organization’s
practices to better match the vision/mission Describe how you collect feedback
from employees, customers, vendors, volunteers, industry leaders, etc. How is this
information interpreted and integrated into process improvement? Consider thank you
letters, praise or customer surveys as well. How does feedback, both positive and
negative, lead to resolving issues both temporarily and permanently? How does this
process speak to the ethics of your organization?
5. Describe your business’ greatest ethical challenge and how was it addressed
and communicated. Do you have a story of a time when your company overcame an
ethical challenge? Illustrate how an issue was discovered, how it was resolved, and
how staff was involved in the solution. To find ethical dilemmas, ask yourself why
certain policies are in place. Often, policies are put in place as a result of a previously
resolved challenge.
BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 4 Worksheet:
Organizational Commitment to Performance Management Practices
Describe how your organization implements the best management practices and encourages
employees to pursue and develop expertise in their areas of responsibility.
1. Describe how annual goals and targets for the organization are established
along with clear measurements to evaluate progress toward each goal.
How do you establish short and long term goals for the organization? Are goals set
with clear measurements to gauge success? How is the plan implemented? Who is
accountable for tracking progress? Discuss how ethics practices play a role in every
step. Provide samples/examples of planning documents as supporting evidence (e.g.,
business plan, strategic plan, action plans, project plans, etc.)
2. Describe how department or individual objectives and targets are established.
Describe the process used to craft and communicate department objectives. How are
the organization’s goals part of establishing department or individual goals? What
steps comprise the planning process? Who is involved and what are their roles in the
process? What documents/deliverables are developed? How are individual goals
established? What is the method for communicating plans and objectives to key
stakeholders? Discuss how ethics practices play a role in every step.
3. Describe practices that use performance information to encourage, guide and
motivate. How does your organization establish its key performance indicators? How
often are they reviewed against industry standards and or ethics standards? Are
individual or department performance goals based on these indicators?
4. Describe the accountability and compensation systems for high performance.
Discuss how ethical practices are included in compensation systems for individual (and
department or company) performance. How does ethics play a role in
reward/recognition programs? Provide copies of ethical audits/reports, compliance
surveys/studies, to support your narrative. For smaller organizations, discuss how you
arrived on the fee structure for your products, services or compensation.
BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 5 Worksheet:
Organizational Commitment to Ethical Human Resource Practices
Describe how your human resource practices prepare, support, recognize and provide
opportunities for growth in both competency and ethical behavior for staff members.
1. Describe hiring practices that insure people are hired for character, and that
systems and processes for training and preparing staff are adequate. How do
you let new or potential hires know of the organization’s values? Share a sample job
posting, job description, and interview questions and highlight how and why ethics are
a part of these items. Describe how ethics are incorporated into the company’s
interview process. How is safety of employees and/or the community discussed during
the hiring process? Explain the work behind the scenes during the decision making
process: Do you run a background check, check social media, perform drug testing,
etc. on potential employees? How do new hires get trained to be able to function
successfully and in accordance with company values in their new role? Are employees
trained to accurately portray the limitations as well as the benefits of the organization’s
products/services? Are you an equal opportunity employer?
2. Describe practices and procedures you have implemented to resolve ethical
issues. What ethical issues have been reported in your organization in the last 12
months and what were the results? Is there someone who can provide guidance (in
addition to the boss) if an employee, sub-contractor or volunteer has a question about
ethics, a perceived wrongdoing by an associate, or the laws/regulations required by
your industry? Discuss and/or share examples of training practices used to resolve
future or potential ethical issues. Have you updated your practices because of
experiences you’ve had?
3. Describe organizational disciplinary practices for low character and low
competency behaviors. Describe disciplinary/termination systems used for
unacceptable and unethical practices. Provide an example of how you have upheld or
improved the current disciplinary system. How are confidentiality concerns addressed?
Do you consistently give an exit interview? If so, who does the interview? How are the
results collected and reviewed?
4. Describe how ethical behaviors of employees are identified and recognized.
How are employees monitored? What has your organization done in the last 6 months
to reward ethical behavior?
5. Describe policies and procedures to insure employees are treated fairly and
respectfully and that workplace safety is ensured. What ethical practices are
addressed in training materials for employees or volunteers? For example do you have
PowerPoint presentations, manuals or video examples to show how you conduct safety
training, address community health concerns or discuss boundaries. Discuss how
managers are trained and authorized to withdraw (or modify) a product/service if it is
found to be a hazard to public health, safety, or it conflicts with the code of ethics.
6. Describe paths for employee professional development and employee
turnover rates.
What opportunities do employees have for growth within the
company? How is the compensation plan developed to be fair and equitable between
men & women, lateral job positions, etc.? How do you support employees long-term
and encourage the development of new skills within your organization? How often are
these practices reviewed for improvements? Explain how these practices demonstrate
your company’s commitment to ethics. Does your organization’s employee retention
rate demonstrate employee longevity? Why is your company a place where people
want to work?
BBB Business Ethics Awards - Criteria 6 Worksheet:
Organizational Commitment to the Community
Describe your company’s community support and service activities within your industry and
community.
1. Describe participation in industry organizations and their activities to
promote best practices. Show how your organization’s support in terms of money,
time or resources, improves the community and/or your industry. Do you encourage
high standards within your industry through participation with industry associations?
Consider what sets you apart from your competitors. Does your organization support
or help pay for continuing education within your industry? Do you support retraining or
reorganizing efforts, offer training for time management, safety concerns or problem
solving? Are you part of hosting a conference? Provide a recent example of how your
organization regularly donated its time or resources to reinvest in its community
and/or support your industry.
2. Describe how employees are encouraged to (and recognized for) spending
time in community service activities that the organization values. Describe your
organization’s green or humanitarian efforts. Provide information on how your
organization supports social responsibility in terms of people, profits and the planet.
Do you allow your employees time during work hours to volunteer for community
activities? Do you organize team activities to support the community?
3. Describe any contribution of funds, or in-kind services to community
programs that is consistent with the organization’s values and character. Does
your organization actively engage in associations or credentialing groups to benchmark
its activity within its industry? If yes, describe which groups and how they have been
chosen and how often they are reviewed. How does your company/charity benchmark
its success in relation to its competitors, its industry, its community, etc?
4. Describe how the company’s practices are assessed against proven standards.
Consider your advertising, operations, risk management, governance, and
regulatory compliance behaviors. Many industries are heavily regulated. Whether it
is a financial responsibility regulation such as Sarbanes-Oxley, an OSHA health and
safety regulation, a license regulation, a privacy regulation, etc; these regulations are
generally set to improve the social responsibility of the industry. Describe regulatory
compliance standards within your organization’s industry and provide examples of
what you do that is above and beyond what is required. Include practices you have
implemented to support and improve the outcome of an unanticipated audit.
For advertising, provide an example of a recent promotional item (i.e. business card,
brochure, yellow pages ad, online ad, billboard, etc.) and explain how your
organization is careful to be truthful in its advertising. Consider referring to BBB’s Code
of Advertising Standards to demonstrate you understand the basic principles of BBB
advertising standards.
5. Provide proof of achievement with any industry benchmarks for high
standards of business excellence. Describe any awards you have received in your
industry and tell us why they are important to you. Illustrate growth in an area of
importance to your organization, perhaps using a graph or chart. Does your
organization hold any certifications or seals of approval for things such as level of
service, focus on environmental practices or product quality?
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