An ethics officer is someone who holds people accountable to ethical standards ensuring that a company’s practices are in line with its stated ethics and beliefs. Ethics officers are becoming more common in the business world, as well as at colleges and universities, where ethical behavior is frequently a source of concern for students and staff. It is not necessary to have any special qualifications to serve as an ethics officer, though people in this position are known for their high ethical standards.
Ethics officers are responsible for a variety of duties. They can assist their employers in developing codes of ethics in order to establish a clear standard, as well as clear consequences for violations of these codes, so that everyone in the company understands that they will be held ethically accountable. Ethics officers can also enforce ethical codes and make necessary changes to them.
When formulating policy, an ethics officer usually considers the letter of the law as well as the industry standard. The law may allow for a surprising amount of ethical flexibility, which means it is up to individuals to do the right thing, and industries as a whole may come to ethical agreements. It is not illegal to cheat on exams, for example, but most colleges and universities have policies in place to prevent cheating because they believe it is unethical.
One of an ethics officer’s responsibilities is to examine an organization’s stated values, mission, and goals and determine whether or not the organization’s actions support these statements. An ethics officer can serve as a symbol of accountability for a company that claims to act ethically, demonstrating that it does not just pay lip service to the ideal of ethics but actually has an ethics code in place and appoints people to enforce it.
Ethical review boards, which review proposed experiments in the research environment or consider other proposed activities with ethical implications, can also include ethics officers. Ethics officers monitor all activities at a company in their capacity as compliance officers, from whether the janitor checks the trash for recyclables to how the company conducts contract negotiations. The ethics officer may also have the authority to investigate specific employees or activities to ensure that they follow the company’s ethical guidelines.