Cathy spoke that they too have a compliance division but at American Family they also have an "ethics hot line" the hot line is 100% confidential and is there to provide the company with feed back that is happening outside of the office in the field. If an associate of the company sees another being unethical maybe with a client or just in general this is where they can call unanimously to let the company know what is going on outside of the office doors. At American family they have Zero tolerance policy so one slip up and you might get the boot. With Advicase CPA they are a much smaller firm that doesn't have so much of compliance department but more of a liaison. Adrian spoke that she really believes it starts at the top with a smaller firm and if the head partner or partners in her situation aren't showing good ethics or requiring good ethics out of their staff then that serves as a major problem. Keith working for a private company in SRC Holding Companies has a little different view. He stated being a private firm it is huge that if a ethical situation or a defense against their code of conduct does occur that he as HR or the GM as head of the company are the first to find out and that it doesn't leave the doors of the company. At SRC they have an open door policy, to were at any point in time an employee can come in and talk to their first line leaders or even GM about what problems they .
are seeing or if they are feeling that they are being miss treated, because In a private firm such as theirs if something gets out into the media that could hurt the company that could be the end of them and if it can be resolved without that happening that is always the goal.
A question was asked during the discussion, have you ever been put in the cross hairs of an ethical dilemma and if so without going into great detail how did you resolve the problem? Keith was the first to speak on the topic and he talked about how being in the HR world he is hiring and firing individuals all the time.