The Challenge
A global company wanted to modernize its code of conduct and commissioned us to make it transparent and accessible using the Legal Design method.
The problem with codes of conduct:
Like many other guidelines, the code of conduct often contains very general content, some of which is expressed in complicated and abstract terms. This means that the actual addressees often do not read or understand it.The addressees here are primarily the internal employees, who must understand why compliance with a general code of conduct is important. Every single employee must understand that misconduct on their part can jeopardize the company’s vision and reputation. In the worst cases, of course, such behavior can also lead to legal disputes and litigation for the company.
The Approach
Break it down and make it accessible
The Code of Conduct we had at our disposal was characterized by complicated language. During our research, we realized that employees did not feel addressed by the content of the Code of Conduct at all. The formulations were very abstract and the design of the PDF prepared for the company’s website was also very general and meaningless.
The Outcome
In order to make one of the most important guidelines of a company actionable and accessible, we chose the approach of direct and emotional support: we transformed the text of the guideline into a completely different approach and made sure that we made it a real source of knowledge.We see here the example of the so-called Speak Up Rule, which states that if you observe a behavior that violates the Code of Conduct, you can report it. As you can imagine, this is not an easy situation for an employee to be in, because they’re afraid of being a snitch and they don’t know exactly what to do in that moment. So we took this situation as an opportunity to create a Speak Up checklist with specific action items.What we see here is a new resource that, on the one hand, balances the actual situation with the courage of the individual to act in confidence within the company and, at the same time, creates a source of information that shows what an employee can really do without feeling unsafe.
