While a code of ethics sets out how the company expects all employees to behave, there will be occasions when you want to emphasise the importance of particular behaviours to particular types of staff – for example, where it’s been the focus of regulatory scrutiny or operational shortcomings.
You emphasise those particular ethical behaviours by building them into the job descriptions of relevant staff. This helps bring them to the fore during appraisals and in performance management.
So what particular ethical behaviours should a claims manager have? Or a senior underwriter? For sales people, such decisions may be straightforward, but other insurance and financial planning disciplines are more tricky.
That’s where my track record as a commentator on ethical issues in insurance and financial planning comes in – I’ve written about the ethics of underwriting, of claims settlement, of broking often enough to have sorted out the wheat from the chaff. What you get as a client is a structured, well thought out approach to achieving an ethical focus amongst particular disciplines.
Duncan is an independent adviser on business ethics, with a particular focus on the insurance and financial planning sectors. He worked in insurance for 18 years and has been an ethics adviser for 11 years. He's a Chartered Insurance Practitioner.