Benchmarking Services

The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) is the most respected organization in the area of ethics program assessment, having compiled the most advanced measurement instruments and datasets for benchmarking.  

As a part of ERC's research efforts, the organization has now developed multivariate measures of culture and effectiveness through employee surveys and a rigorous methodology to collect reliable data. In addition, ERC is creating an online portal that provides real-time information and data query tools that will enable customized analysis to corporate clients, along with the capability to generate community-specific benchmarks.

ERC has also developed a streamlined survey implementation process designed to minimize cost and maximize efficiency.  ERC's goal is to make quantitative measurement both easy and affordable for corporate clients.

When a client completes an ERC survey instrument (either working directly with ERC or through an ERC Partner), the company not only receives critical insight into their operational culture and ethics program effectiveness, but also contributes to the ERC's larger research agenda.  Upon permission, each company data set is added to ERC's Aggregate Data enriching the organization's  ability to conduct meaningful research.  Positioning ERC as the nonprofit source for benchmarks and innovative research which will contribute to their ethics and compliance programs.

The ERC is committed to remain independent and free from exclusive partnerships.  However, ERC has partnered with several professional service providers in ethics and compliance who offer a wide variety of services  to help companies grapple with the issues identified by the survey.

During the past three years, ERC has helped more than 30 companies and organizations assess the effectiveness of their ethics and compliance programs using the following sets of indicators:

• Formal Program Elements – As identified by the US Sentencing Commission's Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations;
• Risk – Exposure to situations that invite violation of an organization's standards or the law;
• Ethical Culture – Indicators of the extent to which members of the organization embody and conduct business according to the standards of the organization, and the nature of pressures to commit misconduct;
• Program Outcomes – Measures of the extent to which a program is achieving its intended objectives and is promoting ethical conduct overall.

The findings from ERC's surveys are intended to help organizations:

• Assess differences in perceptions along department lines, levels within the organizations, regions, and changes in perceptions and progress of program efforts over time;
• Analyze critical connections between various desired program outcomes; and,
• Act on evaluation findings by making important decisions about program and training design, and general resource allocation.

Each ERC survey project offers:

• ERC's measurement of effectiveness process, involving a survey of employee perceptions regarding workplace ethics, including the impact of formal programs; strength and impact of ethical culture; and outcomes of an effective program.
• Paper and internet-based survey implementation options, along with execution of surveys on a global basis in multiple languages.
• Formal report of overall survey findings.
• A one-year subscription to ERC Online, the ERC's exclusive web-based data reporting and query tool.
• Tailored webpage exclusively for client access, containing aggregate measures from surveys among customers, compared to ERC national and international measures.

Contact Matt Robbins for more information 703.647.2185