Most companies today are hypervigilant about improving their efforts to enforce ethics. And for those in the manufacturing and production sectors, your ethics policies are tightly woven together with workplace safety, sustainability, and employee behavior oversight. For your business model, there are also unique aspects of workplace ethics to consider. Today, we’ll share proven tips to help you reduce risks and improve your policies relating to ethics in manufacturing.

1. General Improvements to Consider Immediately

Start by buttoning up general ethics policy gaps or inefficiencies. These general suggestions will help you to essentially audit your current approach to ethics. In turn, your teams will be able to identify areas of improvement.

· Identify and reaffirm your company’s ethics goals.

· Evaluate to ensure there are processes for ethics monitoring.

· Determine whether or not management personnel are leading by example.

· Review current disciplinary procedures for ethics policy violations. · Understand if your manufacturing environment is conducive to employee feedback.

· Survey all staff and third-party vendors for ethics suggestions and improvements.

2. Prioritizing Worker Well-Being

The next step toward improving ethics in your manufacturing environment is prioritizing employee well-being. While many of your ethics efforts will be focused on material sourcing, supply chains, and production, centralizing your ethics on preserving the experiences of your employees may be the most important. Identify and eliminate any and all risks associated with the following employee-impacting ethics concerns:

· Discrimination

· Harassment

· Safety

· Privacy

3. Ethical Production Practices

Ethics in manufacturing also requires crucial oversight regarding sustainability practices, materials sources, and eco-friendly efforts. Energy consumption is always a concern. And you might have specific guidelines for recycled materials, waste disposal, and efficiency in production. Look to create ethics policies that first define your goals. Then outline and train your teams on how to maintain those policies and raise awareness of potential risks. The four primary pillars of ethics in sustainability are:

· Environmental ethics

· Social responsibility

· Corporate ethics

· Economic responsibility

4. Leveraging the Ethics Enforcement Power of an Ethics Hotline

More and more manufacturers are relying on the ethics reinforcement power of the ethics hotline. Because these channels are anonymous, employees and non-employees alike can signal potential concerns. And ethics hotlines are essential tools for monitoring and reporting safety misconduct, too. When you have a way to collect insights from the production floor and all other areas of your company, you can be sure you’ll spot ethics issues before they turn into costly fines, violations, or litigation. Other ethics hotline benefits include:

· Improved compliance

· Faster incident reporting

· Organizational accountability

· Reduce costs associated with ethics and compliance violations

· Improved violation deterrence

Ethics in manufacturing requires a strategic approach to enforcement, risk mitigation, and management. The ethics hotline continues to be the valued resource for countless production facilities. And Ethical Advocate is just the partner you need to bring an ethics hotline to your manufacturing company. Connect with our team, and let’s discuss how an ethics hotline can help to improve your ethics in manufacturing and reduce overall risks or unnecessary costs. Boost your company’s ethics policies and enforcement with one call, one tool, and one solution.