RE: Our Company’s Ethical Duties and Social Responsiveness
With the great efforts of our human resources, legal, and administrative department, I would like to announce the recent completion of our amended Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code”). The drafting and implementation of the Code illustrates our commitment to ensure that all members of the Ruby Tuesday staff and corporate suite conduct themselves with “honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior” and in compliance with the law (Ruby Tuesday, 2015). A Code of conduct is essential for us to be the best organization that we can be.
While the Code provides comprehensive coverage of all areas of our work and business, I want to point out a couple of areas where compliance to the Code is especially important, especially considering are at our core a nationwide restaurant chain committed to “preparing and serving food of uncompromising freshness and quality” (Ruby Tuesday, 2016). First, we demand absolute compliance with our prohibitions on harassment and discrimination of any kind including internal company interactions and company-client interaction. We are, as mentioned, a nationwide restaurant that not only serves people of all races, nationalities, ethnicities, gender orientations, sexuality, and age but we also invite and accept the same broad range of people to be our employees. Accordingly, a discriminatory or harassing act or remark will necessary hurt or insult someone within our network of human interaction. Consequently, such conduct will not be tolerated.
Second, we demand the strict compliance with our demands for accounting and financial integrity. As a customer-facing hospitality organization, staff and employees will generally have a high degree of independence in performing financial transactions with customers including it is calculating their bill, accepting their payment and entering it into the system, or returning their change. In addition, staff and employees have independence in dealing with suppliers. As a consequence, we trust that you will properly and honestly complete these transactions. In other words, we do not wish to employ more onerous measures to ensure compliance but believe that communicating your ethical duties should be sufficient.
Third, we would like to emphasize your duty not to cover-up mistakes or falsify records. This duty, while related to the second, is a bit more comprehensive in that it not only includes financial transactions but any type of conduct. Mistakes and errors happen, especially in an organization as large and disparate as ours. The only way that mistake can be resolved is if they are reported. This allows us an organization to more efficiently address the needs of you as well as our customers and suppliers. Failure to report or a knowing attempt to hide an issue rarely eliminates the problem and most likely will lead to an expansion of the issue as well as your and the company’s liability in not resolving the issue.
Since we consider compliance with the complete Code a necessary element to how we will monitor, evaluate, and judge your work performance, we have initiated the follow procedures to ensure that you will follow the Code (Arnold et al. 2013). First, all employee must read and understand the Code. To ensure this, all employees are required to sign and date the “I have read” signature form located at the end of the Code handbook and return that signature form to human resources within two weeks of receiving the Code handbook. Second, within a month, all employee will be required to take and pass an online test of Code understanding. The test will be administered on an individual basis during work time for which the employee will receive their normal salary. Failure to successfully complete the test after three tries will require attendance of a supplementary “Code class”. Attendees will receive salary for the class. Failure to attend the class or successfully pass the test after the class are grounds for disciplinary actions. Lastly, every year, thereafter, employees will be required to a supplementary online quiz just to ensure that the Code remains a continuing element in the works that we all perform.
In addition to the implementation of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, it is my belief that we as a company must proactively engage with the communities that we are located in in order to provide whatever skills, expertise, and experience that will facilitate a safer, secure, and prosperous environment (Kincaid, 2012). To that end, I would also like to announce our new Social Responsive Initiative (SRI). The SRI is composed of three elements that we hope will achieve or goals as a socially responsible and responsive organization. First, to the best of our ability and according to availability, we have decided to use suppliers in the communities where we are located to provide us with the resources we need to produce the freshest and highest quality food. What this will also mean is that each restaurant will have the ability to produce a local menu in addition to our traditional one. Our hope is to build long lasting partnerships with local suppliers that will facilitate their and our growth that is sustainable (D’Amato et al., 2009). Second, it is a fact of life in the hospitality industry that not all food is eaten. In consideration of that fact, we plan to begin to work with local charities to develop ways where we can donate excess or unused food for use in community soup kitchens or other ways to relieve hunger in the communities where we are located. Third, we have established a program were staff and employee will receive bonuses, recognition, or other rewards for volunteering at local charities, teaching children in vulnerable populations, or providing assistance in community service activities (Junior Achievement, 2009). As mentioned, it is our hope that these activities not only help us be a better citizen but help the community resolve problems that affect us all.
Acting ethically and being responsible for one’s behavior is no longer a luxury but a necessary aspect of doing business and working as an employee. We have established the Code in order o remind and require all employees, regardless of their level, what their duties are and what we expect from them ethically. In addition, we have established the SRI to extend our ethically duties as an organization to the communities in which we operate. Is our sincere hope that both the Code and the SRI will facilitate a more genuinely ethical employee and company, as well as a socially responsive organization.
References
Arnold, D. G., Beauchamp, T. L. & Bowie, N.E. (2013). Ethical Theory and Business, 9th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Education.
D’Amato, A., Henderson, S. & Florence, S. (2009). Corporate responsibility and sustainable business. Retrieved from http://insights.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CorporateSocialResponsibility.pdf
Kincaid, M (2012). Building corporate social responsibility through servant-leadership. Retrieved from https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol7iss2/IJLS_Vol7Iss2_Kincaid_pp151-171.pdf
Junior Achievement. (2009). The benefits of employee volunteer programs. Retrieved from https://www.juniorachievement.org/documents/20009/36541/Benefits-of-Employee-Volunteer-Programs.pdf/8de7c97e-246c-4165-900d-b4a84f28c228
Ruby Tuesday. (2015, Apr. 08). Code of business conduct and ethics. Retrieved from http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9Mjc5MjM4fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1
Ruby Tuesday. (2016). Our story. Retrieved from http://www.rubytuesday.com/ourstory
