March Madness

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It's that time of year again - the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championship. Get ready for a slew of articles about how much productivity is lost while people research their brackets, fill them out, debate the merits of each team, and follow along Thursday and Friday as the games are played (oh yeah, and blog about it!).

So who do you like? Me? I like Stanford. But, unfortunately, the Mighty Cardinal men failed to make the Big Dance this year (nor did they qualify for the NIT, but they are in something called the CBI. Whatever.). The Women's bracket isn't out yet, but as the No. 2 team in the nation, I'm predicting a Number One seed, and I'll be projecting them to upset UConn in the final.

So without my beloved Cardinal men to cheer on, what should I do? Rather than stick with the Pac-10, which is what I've done in the past, I've decided to broaden my horizons. So this year, I'm rooting for one of the following to win: Ohio State, Utah, West Virgina, Robert Morris, BYU, Texas A&M, Northern Iowa, Marquette, Cornell, California, Oklahoma State, UCLA, VCU, Minnesota, North Carolina, Butler, Syracuse or Stephen F Austin.

If I didn't name your alma mater, there's an easy way to get on this list - simply join these fine institutions, and sign up as an EthicsPoint customer! In the meantime, I'll be cheering on these fine teams!

FCPA in the Spotlight

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Some of you may have noticed I recently added a blog role to this page over on the right. (I also added a "My Faves" and the mint love letters at Babbo are to die for, but I digress). For those of you in compliance at large organizations, I strongly recommend the FCPA Blog - this is a great place to get timely commentary on corruption, FCPA violations, compliance and more.

I mention it because today they recognized the work of Dan Newcomb and Philip Urofsky, who publish the FCPA Digest - a great resource for people interested in recent trends and patterns in the enforcement of the FCPA.

On the shameless plug side of things, I'm very pleased to provide a venue for Dan and Philip to present on The FCPA Year in Review: How Recent Investigations and Prosecutions Will Impact Compliance Programs, as part of EthicsPoint's ongoing webinar series. Click here to register!

We've put a big focus this year on hosting relevant, interesting webinars - partnering with experts such as Dan and Philip to share their knowledge, advice and experiences. If there is a topic you'd like to see covered, please let me know.

What role technology?

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BusinessWeek ran an interesting article yesterday, Tech That Combats Employee Fraud. While I thought the article was well written, what I found most interesting was the series of comments posted by readers on the web page. One poster was incensed that companies might deploy keystroke loggers or monitor website usage of employees. Another thought it was perfectly acceptable, as we wouldn't condone watching movies all day on a DVD player or spending hours on the telephone ordering items from a Sears catalog.

I think these people are missing the point.

Culture is Key
Technology should be an enabler, supporting the strategies and tactics employed to meet corporate objectives. When combating fraud, fostering and maintaining an environment of integrity, honesty and ethical decision-making is far more important than deploying technology to inhibit or root out misconduct. The Ethics Resource Center's National Workplace Ethics Survey clearly shows that having a positive work environment strongly correlates to minimizing misconduct.

So How Much Big Brother?
The other comment I'd make relates to management philosophy on how much monitoring is necessary. I'll leave it to the lawyers to argue where and when the line is crossed when infringing on the right to privacy for employees. But my own personal management style is to set expectations, and then let my reports live into them. At the end of the day, I care whether the work is done - with high quality - and that my employees act with integrity and respect for others and follow our code of conduct. Since I have no issue if they work long hours - including weekends - I don't really feel that I should have an issue with them taking time to view Youtube, update their Facebook accounts, shop online, IM, or other activities that others believe shouldn't be done on "company" time. In my mind, the lines between "company" and "personal" time have blurred.

If I have an employee who chooses to not to live up to our agreed upon objectives and expectations, then I have a management problem that I need to correct. Similarly, if they break the law, or violate our code of conduct, then I will take appropriate actions. Technology may help me identify these adverse situations, augmenting the culture I help set for our employees, but in the end, I hold myself accountable for hiring great people, treating them with respect and allowing them to be professionals.

What do you think? What is the "right" amount of employee monitoring?