Code of Conduct Training
Brightline Compliance's online course, Code of Conduct,
provides employees legally sound and engaging instruction that is
customized to your organization's ethics code of conduct and other
relevant policies.
- Risk Assessment
- Course Overview
- Course Content -- Choose from modules on over 20
topics
- Additional Courses Available on Specialized Topics
- Customization
- Crack the Code
- Acknowledgement of Policy Receipt
- Anonymous Q & A Feature
- Client Testimonials
- Print a Flyer on Code of Conduct Course
- OCEG Membership
- Risk Assessment
Compliance and business ethics training is not a "one-size-fits-all" solution.
Brightline Compliance will ensure that your online training is customized to
the needs of each individual employee. First, Brightline's
nationally-known attorneys will create a risk analysis of your training
needs. Specifically, they will examine your Ethics Code of Conduct and
other relevant policies and look at factors such as your industry, the
states where you have employees, and the job functions of your
employees. Brightline will then provide you an analysis of the topics
on which you need to train employees and which employees need which
type of training.
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Course Overview
Most employees do not knowingly violate a law or policy. Instead, many
ethical violations occur when an employee is faced with a difficult
choice that requires the employee to balance competing interests where
the right thing to do is not clear. Instead of simply preaching to
employees the importance of ethical behavior, effective training uses
interactive audio-visual scenarios to address the "gray areas" and
provides employees practical skills for identifying and resolving these
ethical dilemmas.
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Course Content -- Choose from modules on over 20
topics
After the risk assessment is complete, Brightline will recommend which
modules to include in your Code of Conduct course. Our continually
expanding library of course modules includes:
- Antitrust and Anti-Competitive Practices:
This module explores anti-competitive practices such as price-fixing,
bid-rigging, and market allocation. Employees learn practical skills
for identifying questionable activities that could put the organization
at risk, including communications with competitors and subcontractors,
joint development projects, and activity in industry associations.
- Confidential Information:
Employees learn to safeguard information relating to business
operations, clients, vendors, and employees that should be kept private.
- Conflicts of Interest:
Employees learn how to spot and handle complex situations where the
employee's personal interests, or the interests of a family member, may
compete with the organization's or shareholders' interests.
- Environment, Health and Safety:
This module explores the responsibility of all employees to perform
their work and maintain their workplace in a safe and lawful manner and
to report any injuries or potential hazards as soon as possible. It
also increases awareness of responsibilities the organization has to
protect the environment and to comply with environmental laws and
regulations.
- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO):
This module provides employees with practical questions to ask
themselves to guide them in refraining from making comments or taking
actions that others could reasonably consider to be harassing or
discriminatory. It also teaches that employees should not be retaliated
against for engaging in protected EEO activity.
- Ethical Leadership for Supervisors:
This module provides instruction for supervisors and managers on their
special responsibilities to promote ethical behavior, monitor their
workplaces for unethical actions, and take quick action when unethical
behavior is found or suspected.
- Export Controls and Anti-Boycotting Laws:
This module alerts employees to export control laws that may restrict
the organization's ability to provide goods or otherwise do business in
that country. It also addresses employees' responsibilities for
complying with anti-boycotting laws. Warning signs for transactions
that may be in violation of such laws are discussed.
- Fair Dealings: Employees learn the rules for fair treatment of customers, vendors, and competitors.
- Financial Integrity:
Employees learn how to properly account for expenses, hours worked, and
other items and how discrepancies in their accounting can impact the
validity of the company's books and records.
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Anti-Corruption):
This module teaches the gray areas around conducting international
business without violating anti-corruption laws such as the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Scenarios discuss issues such as the use
of "facilitating payments," proper recording of transactions, and
performing due diligence when working with third parties.
- Fraud and Abuse:
This module explores the gray areas around common types of fraud and
abuse, including fraudulent pricing or delivery of goods and services,
and theft of company property.
- Gifts and Favors: Employees learn the rules for exchanging gifts and favors with vendors, customers, and other employees.
- Government Procurement:
Employees who may be involved in contacting government officials,
submitting bids, or carrying out work on government contracts learn how
to comply with contracting rules when soliciting government business,
what you can and cannot discuss with your contacts in government
agencies during the sales process, how to comply with the government's
rules when performing work on government contracts, how to handle
inquiries from government officials about obtaining employment with
your employer, and how to avoid violating rules regulating gifts and
favors to government employees.
- Insider Trading:
This module offers employees information on when they must refrain from
trading the securities of the organization or of any entity with which
they do business, and on how to avoid "tipping" third parties to trade
on non-public, material information.
- Intellectual Property:
This module introduces the concept of intellectual property, including
the legal protections of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade
secrets and discusses each employee's obligations to respect the
intellectual property rights of the organization as well as the rights
of third parties.
- Outside Opportunities:
Employees learn about the rules for holding other jobs and for trying
to do work with the employer's clients, vendors, or competitors.
- Record Management and Retention:
This module explores scenarios related to the duty of all employees to
prepare and maintain organization documents and records in a manner
that is accurate, complete, honest, and timely. Issues presented
include the storing and disposing of documents and email.
- Reporting Ethical Concerns: Employees learn who they should contact to report concerns or ask a question about a potential ethical or legal violation.
- Sarbanes-Oxley:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) creates new responsibilities on
organizations and at the same time encourages employees to report
possible illegal accounting and financial reporting activity through
the use of anonymous hotlines and anti-retaliation measures. This
module trains all employees on the provisions of SOX that are relevant
to them.
- Technology (Email and Internet Use):
This module provides all employees with important information on how to
protect organization confidentiality and abide by an organization's
Code of Conduct while using e-mail, the Internet, and other technology
tools.
- Use of Organization Property for Personal Use: Employees learn what their organization's rules are for using computers, copiers, and other equipment for their personal use.
- Additional Compliance and Ethics Training Courses Available on Specialized Topics
For several of the topics listed above and even other legal compliance
topics, Brightline provides stand-alone online and in-person courses that explore these
topics even more in-depth. For example, in addition to the Code of Conduct
course, a sales and marketing professional who does business with
foreign governments should also take Brightline's stand-alone course on
the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
To learn more about Brightline's other online courses, click here.
- Customization
At no additional cost, you may customize the course to include:
- An audio-visual introduction from a high-ranking official welcoming employees to the course
- Instruction on your specific policies on each topic
- Scenarios that are specific to your organization's needs
- Crack the Code
In the "Crack the Code" exercise, employees must search for the answers
to specific questions within your code. For example, how much can an
employee in your organization accept as a gift from a vendor? What
telephone number should an employee call to make an accounting fraud
complaint? In this exercise, employees learn to become familiar with
your Code of Ethics and to use it to look up questions in the future.
- Acknowledgement of Policy Receipt
Brightline's online Code of Conduct training can require employees to electronically
acknowledge that they have received your organization's Code of Ethics
or similar document.
- Anonymous Q & A Feature
Brightline's Code of Conduct course allow employees to submit questions, even anonymously, and have those questions answered online.
- Client Testimonials
To view client testimonials on Brightline's Code of Conduct course, please click here.
- Print Course Flyer
To print a flyer on Brightline's Code of Conduct course, please click here.
- OCEG Membership
Brightline Compliance is a member of the Leadership Council of the Open
Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG). OCEG is a nonprofit organization
that brings together business and industry-leading compliance solutions
providers to develop standards, benchmarks, and other tools to help
organizations meet their governance, risk management, compliance and
ethics needs.
To view a demo of Brightline's Code of Conduct course, please call us at (800) 331-7965 or contact us.
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