Codes of Ethics and Conduct
Codes of ethics and conduct are common in a variety of workplaces. Codes of ethics define the expectations of personal and organizational behavior. Within human service organizations, a code of ethics can take on several forms. Most licensed and/or credentialed personnel in human service organizations have a code of ethics they are required to follow as in order to maintain their professional credentials. In addition, the standards of accrediting bodies require that organizations maintain a code of ethics for all employees to follow and have systems in place to ensure that behavior within the organization follows the components of a code of ethics or conduct.
Although many organizations attempt to utilize the codes of ethics of credentialed personnel as their overall code of ethics; however, most of the codes maintained by various credentialing bodies do not contain expectations of behavior outside of the provider and person served relationship. It is important that organizations have overall organizational-wide codes of ethics/conduct, in addition to any code that may be required of a credentialed provider to follow.
Many organizations apply a code of ethics to their clinical service providers that is patterned after a professional or credentialed provider’s code of ethics or borrows heavily from one while maintaining a separate code of conduct in their personnel policies that governs the general behavior of all employees. Such a system can be appropriate as long as both cover a comprehensive area of behavior.
One of the drawbacks of this system can be that persons not working in direct clinical services are usually not expected to know or follow many of the expectations commonly found in clinical codes of ethics. This can be a problem if the overall personnel code of conduct does not detail relationship expectations of staff when interacting with persons served. In most human service organizations, all employees have some type of contact with persons served, and many times splitting a clinical code of ethics from an overall code of conduct produces gaps in coverage regarding expectations of employee behavior.
The following are ethical/conduct codes that meet accreditation guidelines that codes of ethics/conduct are typically built around:
- Business Practices: Areas of conduct that fall under the heading of business practices include financial practices, purchasing, personnel practices, and related areas. Specifically, the following are common areas typically found within a code of ethics in the area of business practices:
- Corporate Compliance: This is a system utilized to ensure adherence to the codes that contain mechanisms to report and investigate allegations of wrongdoing.
- Coding, Billing, and Accounting: Ethics in this area are meant to ensure that organizations only bill for services rendered, that supporting clinical documentation is prepared for all services rendered, that consumers of services are consistently and uniformly charged, and that an accurate and timely billing structure and medical record system is in place to ensure that the organizationcan effectively implement and conform to legally required practices.
- Government Investigation: Ethical standards and codes in this area are typically developed to ensure that the organization and its employees cooperate fully with any authorized governmental investigations or audits, that the organization responds to the government’s request for information in a manner that enables the organization to protect both the organization and the consumer’s interests while still responding appropriately, and that employees have ethical guidelines in terms of participating in an actual investigation.
- Antitrust Regulations: Ethical standards in this area are to ensure that employees do not agree or attempt to agree with a competitor to artificially set prices or salaries, divide markets, restrict output, block new competitors from the market, deny staff privileges to qualified practitioners, or agree to participate with competitors in a boycott of government programs, insurance companies, or particular drugs or products.
- Marketing: Areas of ethics and conduct that fall under the heading of marketing include the following:
- An expectation that employees adhere to fair business practices and honestly represent themselves and the organization’s services.
- All marketing and advertising practices pertaining to the business and the outcomes of its services are honest and truthful.
- That any vendors who contract to provide goods and services are selected on the basis of quality, cost-effectiveness, and appropriateness for the identified task or need.
- Service Delivery: This area typically includes the overall conduct expected of the organization and employees in providing services. Areas include the full integration of the guidelines contained in the organization’s rights and responsibility policy, adherence to all policies and procedures related to confidentiality, and the appropriate creation, retention, and destruction of consumer and institutional records.
- Professional Responsibilities: This area of ethical conduct helps to ensure that employees practice honest and ethical professional behavior within the organization’s day-to-day environment. Some common examples of expected behavior that is found in this area include:
- Prior personal relationships between staff and persons entering the organization’s services are disclosed and subject to review by the appropriate supervisor.
- Staff limiting their relationships with persons served to their defined professional roles.
- Staff not establishing ongoing personal or business relationships with persons receiving services.
- The prohibition of sexual relations between staff and persons served, including flirting, advances and/propositions, comments of a sexual nature about an individual’s body, clothing, or lewd or suggestive comments.
- Not accepting gifts of values from a person served, family member, or stakeholder, and not accepting personal favors or benefits that may reasonably be construed as influencing conduct or producing favoritism.
- Human Resources: Ethical standards that directly address expectations of the organization’s behavior in this area include the following:
- Policies that prohibit discrimination in any work-related decision on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a covered veteran.
- A commitment to providing equal employment opportunities in a work environment where each employee is treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.
- Allowing for reasonable accommodations.
- A lack of tolerance for harassment or discrimination by anyone based on diverse characteristics or cultural backgrounds.
- Any form of sexual harassment.
- Any form of workplace violence.
In summary, the quality of services an organization provides can be fully supported by an explicit and comprehensive code of ethics/conduct that is well understood by both the employees of the organization and the persons the organization serves. This practice provides guidelines for each employee to follow and meet specific expectations of personal behavior. A fully functioning and practical corporate compliance program within the organization is one of the necessary components to achieve adherence to the code among employees. Another common tool for ensuring that ethical and conduct codes are maintained and followed is an organization’s system of employee supervision.