SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 3
HR & ORGANISATIONAL ETHICS IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY .................................... 5
SABPP RESPONSE .......................................................................................................... 6
CURRENT STATUS OF SABPP RESOURCES ............................................................... 7
ABOUT THE SABPP ......................................................................................................... 9
CONTACT THE SABPP .................................................................................................. 10
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
INTRODUCTION
The SABPP initiated a process in 2008 to highlight ethics
within the HR profession. Senior members of the profession
gave their views on important aspects of ethics within HR. It
was commonly agreed that HR professionals have a fiduciary
accountability to uphold fair, objective, transparent, consistent
and equitable workplace practices, balancing the rights of both
employer and employee while maintaining uncompromised
confidentiality.
Their
own
conduct
should
reflect
professionalism, high personal values and compassion. They
should act with integrity and courage, to do what is right
without causing undue damage.
Specific ethical problems highlighted in the research included:
“The future of the HR
profession depends on the
commitment of HR
practitioners and the HR
professional body to position
HR strategically and to ensure
the highest level of
professional conduct, ethics
and excellence in people
practices”.
Huma van Rensburg,
then CEO of the SABPP
1. Unethical management decisions
Witnessing management decisions and instructions in violation of employee rights and
based only on the employer‟s viability and profitability.
2. Unethical practices in employment equity
Obstruction of employment and advancement of previously disadvantaged applicants with
excuses of “skills shortages”; use of “fronting” and “window dressing” to achieve the
numbers; setting people up to fail through the appointment of under-qualified people;
perpetuation of exclusionary practices; prioritising “connections” over competence.
3. Unethical differences between top and bottom in pay
Differentiation in executive remuneration and reward practices - the protection of the
unjustifiable ratio between top management and shop floor level employees.
4. Unethical conduct of senior managers
Conduct of senior management relating to nepotism, abuse of position of power or
receiving kickbacks and bribes.
The effects of ethical issues impact in similar ways on junior HR professionals versus those
experienced by their senior counterparts. But junior professionals are perceived to be less
equipped to deal with complex ethical issues and to have limited influence on policy and strategy.
They are often expected to carry out instructions without questioning the status quo.
Sometimes senior HR professionals are the guilty parties in that they build their own empires and
do not provide the necessary guidance and advice to the juniors to deal with governance issues.
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
“For HR professionals to become the conscience of the organisation, they
need courage, skill, information and influence.”
Christine Botha, Chair, SABPP Ethics Committee
The senior HR professionals called on the SABPP to play a role as „public protector‟ or
ombudsman if it is to be a statutory body with enforceable authority to protect HR professionals. It
could also provide ethics training, an ethics „help-desk‟ (to provide guidance and advice), a forum
where ethics issues can be raised and discussed and it could encourage organisations to only
use HR professionals registered with the SABPP.
Effective policies in organisations, with the CEO as the custodian, should support a strong ethical
culture. It was also suggested that organisations should have strong internal whistle-blowing
policies and that codes of ethics/conduct be monitored by a senior member of staff at board level.
In addition, financial directors and auditing companies should offer support to HR professionals.
Ethics should also form part of the standard auditing procedures. There needs to be protection for
HR professionals who raise issues involving senior staff members.
“Suspect ethical practices have the following detrimental effect on organisations:
1. Destruction of an organisation’s credibility and/or role as an organisational custodian of
values, beliefs, norms and standards.
2. Deterioration of the very moral fabric of our society, as people spend longer
hours at work and this impacts on their work-life balance.
3. Doubt is cast on a country’s ability to manage and lead profitable/
sound organisations.”
A senior HR practitioner respondent in the SABPP survey
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
HR & ORGANISATIONAL ETHICS IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY
Corruption, fraud, greed, mismanagement and other forms of unethical behaviour are commonly
encountered in both the private and public sector of South African organisations. The trend
appears to be worsening, although the public awareness of the adverse consequences of these
practices is increasing and therefore public support for efforts to raise ethical standards is strong.
“Good governance is
seriously undermined by
the failure to demonstrate
intolerance for
corruption.Prevention
requires the promotion of
a culture aligned to the
values of our
Constitution.”
Dr Mamphele Ramphela
The responsibility for installing and monitoring ethical
behaviour in organisations, indeed of creating the
highest standard of ethical organisation, is often
considered to belong solely to the finance, audit and risk
management functions. In fact, this role belongs to the
collective top management of the organisation, as
pointed out clearly by the King III report. Ethical risks lie
largely in the people working for the organisation.
Therefore the HR leader should be playing a leading role
to support this collective responsibility through personal
ethical leadership, strategic organisation development
processes to change behaviour, risk management
processes to mitigate people risks, and in general
supporting the establishment of relationships within the
organisation which create and sustain an ethical climate.
“The economic freedom that represents the hallmark of the capitalistic free enterprise
system is a two edged sword. Used with integrity, it represents the perfect mechanism to
do business and create wealth. Used with dishonesty it allows corporations and
individuals to act fraudulently and negligently and results in greed, business failure,
individual bankruptcy and personal shame". Corporate Governance Handbook,
Principles and Practice, J W Hendrikse and L Hefer-Hendrikse, 2004, Juta.
“There is no doubt that for most South Africans the aim and goal of their economic
system is that it must be "used with integrity.....to create wealth". For HR Practitioners
this is where the tyre hits the road, ensuring that the practices, the culture and the total
environment of the world of work demonstrate this integrity.
If, as an HR Practitioner, you have any doubt about your sense of right and wrong,
fair and unfair, (of course informed by the values of the organisation) you are in
the wrong profession.”
Elizabeth Kumalo, Chair, SABPP
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
SABPP RESPONSE
The SABPP‟s position is that:

Ethical organisations are the means by which South Africa will realise its vision to improve
human development for all its people.

Unethical organisations and unethical individuals have the potential to seriously derail
efforts to realise this vision and therefore strong efforts should be made to change
organisational and individual unethical behaviour.

The application of ethics to daily work lives is complex. Debate and reflection are to be
encouraged.
“A high dose of
integrity is
paramount in being
the HR adviser of
choice and among
the first that the
CEO, senior
leadership and staff
look to for guidance
on people issues.”
Getty Simelane,
CHRP, Partner, The
HR Touch
 The SABPP has created an Ethics Committee as a full
Committee of the Board, to lead the process of improving the
capacity of the HR profession to respond appropriately to
ethical issues in organisations.
 All HR professionals should recognise their
responsibility to lead and support the creation of an ethical
climate in their organisations.
 All HR professionals should abide by the SABPP Code
of Ethics in their work. HR professionals registered with the
SABPP are required to recommit annually to the Code.

The SABPP will support HR professionals through:
o
Providing resources to develop better
understanding of ethics and the implementation of ethics
programmes in organisations.
o
Providing guidance and resources to assist HR
professionals in resolving ethical dilemmas they encounter in
the course of their work.
o
o
In fulfilling our duty to society, the SABPP will protect
South African organisations against unethical
behaviour of HR professionals through the provision of
a complaints and disciplinary process for HR
professionals registered with the SABPP.
The SABPP will partner with other institutions as
appropriate to further understand and lead the process
of improving ethical behaviour in South African
organisations.
SABPP © 2012 www.sabpp.co.za
“Professionalisation
adds huge value in
terms of the relevant
ethics that will apply to
a particular profession.”
Carol Hardijzer, MHRP,
HR Manager, FNB
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
CURRENT STATUS OF SABPP RESOURCES
In July 2011, SABPP published a guideline booklet “Ethics in HR Management: A Guide for
Human Resource Professionals and Line Managers”. This is available as a download on the
SABPP website or in the printed format.
The guide challenges HR professionals and the organisations they work for to answer questions
such as:

If we focus more on ethics in recruiting and selecting staff, will it make a contribution to
ensuring that we create a larger pool of ethical employees in organisations?

Do we concentrate sufficiently on ethics and values when inducting new employees?

Are we behaving ethically in balancing the need for compliance and performance as part
of our performance management systems?

Do we manage learning and development in an ethical manner, for example when
selecting and managing training providers, or when making decisions about learners
entering learning programmes?

When dealing with employees and unions as part of our employment relations system, do
we behave in a fair, equitable and ethical manner?

Utilising salary benchmarking in remuneration, do
we encourage greed and reinforce excessive pay
packages and thereby widen the gaps between the
rich and the poor in one of the most unequal
societies in the world?

What contribution does HR play to create an ethical
culture and to reduce unethical behaviour?

How effective is HR in influencing and guiding
management on ethical issues and the promotion of
an ethical culture in the organisation?
The guide is a „baseline‟ to guide HR professionals and line
managers on how to approach common HR ethical issues
in organisations. It is set out according to HR functional
responsibilities and, at the end of each section, there is a
block of recommendations and suggestions. It is not an
exhaustive work – in fact, it is far from it. It is the intention
to update the guide annually.
“Often HR professionals will
be placed in positions where
there is little or no guidance
on how to deal with the
situation. This guide will act
as an adviser; covering most
areas of HR, and includes
various case studies and how
to treat these issues.”
Ian Becker, Boston City
Campus and member of the
SABPP Ethics Committee
The ethics committee intends to produce a DVD for HR
professionals which it is anticipated will be produced before
the end of 2012.
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
The SABPP has set up an email address mailto:ethics@sabpp.co.zato facilitate an interactive
process with HR professionals. This will add to our working knowledge of ethics and ways in
which ethical issues are being dealt with daily in our working lives. Feedback will be incorporated
into future revisions of the ethics guideline. We will also conduct a survey of HR professionals to
better understand and analyse the extent and nature of ethical issues in South African
organisations.
CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE AN ETHICAL ISSUE
OR CAN CONTRIBUTE TO HELPING OTHER HR
PROFESSIONALS
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
ABOUT THE SABPP
Mission: To establish, direct and sustain a high level of professionalism and ethical conduct in
human resources and people practices.
The SABPP links the achievement of quality to equity and the fostering of innovation and
diversity.
Our values:
OBJECTIVITY | FAIRNESS | CONSISTENCY | INTEGRITY
Our strategy – HR VOICE
SABPP © 2012 www.sabpp.co.za
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SABPP POSITION PAPER
DRIVING ETHICS IN THE HR PROFESSION
CONTACT THE SABPP
Enquiries about this paper can be made to hrri@sabpp.co.za.
Not yet registered with the SA Board
for People Practices (SABPP)?
Join now by applying for professional registration.
Email: professional@sabpp.co.za
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