Wanted: World’s Most Ethical 2021

It’s that time of year again: Ethisphere has opened its application process for the World’s Most Ethical companies list for 2021. All you compliance officers whose CEOs grumble, “Why aren’t we on this list?” start sharpening your pencils.

Enterprising compliance officers can start their applications on the Ethisphere website. There’s also a webinar you can attend if you want to learn more about the application process, which is indeed a rather comprehensive submission of data. This is not something you do on a whim. 

Now in its 15th year, the WME companies are announced every spring. This year Ethisphere has expanded its survey to include an analysis of how companies have responded to the pandemic, as well as to the social justice protests that wracked the United States in June. That’s in addition to the usual environmental, social, and governance factors, workplace safety, gender equity, and inclusion issues that WME has been evaluating for years.

Meanwhile, you can also review the data from the 2020 World’s Most Ethical companies, which Ethisphere sliced into a three-part series. Some of the more interesting findings:

• WME companies are nearly twice as likely to allow employees to select topics covered for their required training (37 percent in 2020, a 23-point increase from 2017).
• WME firms are more likely to allow employees to “test out” of certain training courses (28 percent now versus 14 percent in 2016). In some cases, WME firms use this data to give employees more advanced content.

• Eighty percent of senior executives share personal examples and stories in their communications about ethics and compliance.
• Sixty-one percent incorporate gaming or augmented reality into training – a 13-point increase from 2018.

Here’s hoping that by next year’s WME awards, we can all celebrate in person again. Good luck to everyone who enters!