Compliance: a joint undertaking

In the wake of some major business scandals, compliance has become increasingly important over recent years, regardless of the sector. Have you observed this trend at ElringKlinger?

Definitely. After all, success in business is based on all involved parties conducting themselves with integrity and responsibility. Even an aberration by one individual can have grave and far-reaching consequences for the entire company. Therefore, compliance, by which we mean the observance of laws, legislation, and internal guidelines, is a joint corporate task to which our Group has devoted more and more attention over recent years.

What is needed to ensure good compliance?

The significance and the importance of conduct in line with the rules must be fundamentally clear to all employees – and most importantly of all, adherence to regulations must be a firmly established part of the way we work from day to day. This presupposes a healthy degree of regulation, since not every situation can be regulated. With this in mind, our company provides employees with a framework in which they can act responsibly. The framework is designed to guide them so that they can ultimately make correct decisions in difficult situations. Within the ElringKlinger Group, the Code of Conduct provides the benchmark for the actions and behavior of all employees. It defines core principles as regards corruption, conflicts of interest, gifts and other benefits, (travel) expenses, data protection, discrimination, occupational health and safety, and environmental protection. It also promotes competition and deals with the handling of insider knowledge. These principles are substantiated by other directives, such as our anti-corruption and antitrust guidelines. All managers are required to make every effort to support their staff, take note of suggestions, clarify specific questions regarding the Code of Conduct, and introduce measures as necessary. Needless to say, our compliance officers and I are very happy to assist.

What preventive steps are you taking to avoid compliance violations?

Compliance training sessions are a key tool in prevention. They raise the awareness of employees as regards specific aspects of the relevant internal regulations and legal provisions. The main target groups for our compliance training courses are managerial staff and those faced with certain compliance risks in their roles – for example, in the areas of purchasing and sales. In addition, all employees with PC access in the Group must attend mandatory training on the content of the Code of Conduct. In this case, we make use of web-based training. Elsewhere, we have expanded our compliance presence on the internet. All relevant content has been grouped in a separate compliance section, with general corporate principles expanded to incorporate the aforementioned guidelines on anti-corruption and antitrust law. In parallel to the internet, we have overhauled our internal communications platform in the area of compliance, with useful new content added.