I always try to ensure that my business is competitive by taking a brutal analysis of my ethical behavior and striving to set an excellent example for everyone around me. In industry, ethical behavior refers to conduct that applies fairness and honesty to colleagues and clients. Treating everyone ethically helps our businesses by building customer loyalty, attracting and retaining talented employees as well as avoiding legal problems. The following are some key ethical practices I follow that I have learned over time are crucial to the competitiveness of a business.
Building Customer Loyalty
Treating customers unfairly, for example, by overcharging them is unethical. If clients are unjustly treated, they will not become repeat customers, and they may end up spreading the word to their peers, which leads to losses in our businesses. Having a strong and loyal customer base is one of the critical successes I have seen in companies. Companies may forge this loyalty in a number of ways, from personalized offers and discounts (you could take a look at this SheerID page to see why this is such a good thing to do), to keeping in touch via a newsletter, to anything they can think of to keep communicating with customers and make them feel valued and important to the business as individuals. I find that serving and working with an existing customer is more economical than acquiring a new one. With this in mind, some businesses may want to improve their customer loyalty. To do this, businesses could find out here about the services that Epsilon offers. That company could help business owners to build relationships with customers, ensuring that they stay loyal to the business.
Improving Company Reputation
Having a good company reputation helps create a positive image of any business. Reputable businesses can expand their client base through word of mouth referrals more than adverts put on any platform. Although, incorporating the best online reputation management software into the running of your business will do no harm to your chances of being able to build a positive reputation. In fact, it will only enhance it. However, having a reputation for unethical dealings in our companies may hurt any chances the company might have of obtaining and retaining new customers. This is especially so in this era of social media and networking where dissatisfied clients are quick to spread negative information about any bad experience they might have had when dealing with our companies.
Retention of Good Employees
Talented employees at any level in our businesses and organization want to be fairly compensated for their dedication to the work they are doing. I try to reward them by advancing them in their careers through job promotions depending on the quality of their work and dedication and not at all by favoritism. Our employees want to be a part of a company whose management tells them the truth about how the business is faring in case there are instances where there will be layoffs and reorganizations. When we practice fairness in our organizations and deal with the employees reasonably, we will have a greater chance of retaining the talented ones. Further, I may also get help from ERP companies like SYTE Consult (sytecg.com/) for team building approaches which can improve employee engagement and the business output. Having a good quality employee engagement can create a positive work environment, hence helping the organization to retain its best members.
Avoiding Any Legal Problems
A few business and company owners tend to cut corners to maximize their profits. We may decide not to comply with the environmental regulations, labor laws, and might ignore workers’ safety or even use substandard raw materials while making products. When the law catches up with us, we may end up paying hefty penalties such as legal fees and being fined by government agencies. In the long run, this ends up impacting our business negatively and even more financially from a large number of fees and fines that will be charged.
One advantage that companies may enjoy when they observe the regulations put in place by government agencies is having a good image in the eyes of the law and the public. They also avoid financial losses associated with breaking these laws.
Conducive Work Environment
Employees also have a responsibility to be ethical from the moment they are interviewed. They should be honest about what they are and what they are not capable of and the level of their experience. When the employees are ethical, we, as the employers and their superiors in the organizations, will be assured that the team we work with can have a great and positive co-existence. We will also be able to trust them with the organization’s confidential information and business secrets.
Employees who are caught up in lies ruin their chances of being advanced by their supervisors and might end up getting fired. Some of our business might end up facing significant losses, for example, in some industries like restaurants and grocery stores where untrustworthy employees steal foodstuff or in finance departments where employees might steal money or misappropriate funds leading to massive losses in our businesses.
We always try to cultivate a culture of honesty and ethics among our employees. We have a simple but detailed code of conduct that we need our employees to read and commit to when we offer contracts. We also hold regular training programs to help our employees understand ethical behavior for their own good, the good of the business, and that of our clients.
These are practices I believe can contribute to the competitiveness of any business in all sectors of the economy.
