Responsible Production & Consumption

Our Behavior In Focus: “The Ethics and Compliance Academy”

Mar 29, 2016 10:00 AM ET
Campaign: GSK’s 2015 Annual Report and Responsible Business Supplement
In 2015, we introduced a new Ethics and Compliance Academy that provides in-depth training and external certification for members of this team worldwide.

A spotlight from GSK's 2015 Responsible Business Supplement:

Our values dictate how we behave and guide the decisions we make. Our Global Ethics and Compliance team play a major role in embedding a values-based culture by providing tools to establish robust internal controls and create an ethical culture where people feel comfortable raising concerns.

In 2015, we introduced a new Ethics and Compliance Academy that provides in-depth training and external certification for members of this team worldwide. The aim of this innovative model is to strengthen compliance and ethics by promoting a common approach on ethics and compliance across the business.

Over five days of interactive activities, case studies and presentations from internal and external experts, participants learn how to apply GSK’s values practically on a day to day basis and how to detect potential risk areas across the business. On completion of the course, participants must successfully pass an examination to receive a Leading Professional in Ethics and Compliance (LPEC) certification issued by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI), a non-profit organisation. Those who have completed the course have achieved a 98% pass rate, with an average score of 88%.

Nick Hirons, Head of Global Ethics and Compliance, said: “We wanted to go beyond training, to take people on a development journey from compliance professionals to ethics and compliance experts. Our goal is to help participants help the business make valuesbased decisions, and recognise and confidently navigate in ethical grey zones.”

Through the Academy, we are building a network of informed, engaged and effective ethics and compliance officers. In 2015, we ran five Academy sessions with 198 employees from 90 countries – 97% agreed that they had learned new skills and 98% agreed that the Academy was a valuable use of their time.

We plan to develop a less specialised version of the Academy for senior leaders and employees in our legal, human resources and audit functions. By enhancing their knowledge in ethics and compliance, we can create an even stronger ethical culture across GSK.

More information on this topic visit GSK's website, 2015 Annual Report, and 2015 Responsible Business Supplement.