Our current ethical issues page has a broad look at some of the ethical issues facing consumers today, but this page is more specifically regarding ethical issues in business. Of course this can affect those who work for a company and other companies in the same industry, but ethical issues in business can also be very relevant to a company’s direct and indirect customers.
There are a wide range of areas which come under ethical issues in business, ranging from professional ethics, particularly relating to certain professions such as doctors and lawyers, to employee rights. Employee rights include the right to a fair wage, a safe working environment and non-discriminatory policies. Ethical issues in business also exist in areas such as sales and marketing, whereby companies should not, for example, make false claims about products, indulge in anti-competitive practices such as price fixing, or break copyright laws.
In addition to the ethical issues in business mentioned above, it is also important to remember that companies should have environmental and ecological ethics. Depending on the industry, this can simply mean ensuring that energy saving practices are used in the day-to-day running of an office, ensuring that pollution is kept to a minimum, investing in environmental and ethical businesses and much more.
It can be difficult to know whether any company you come across, or indeed a supplier back up the line, is based on ethical principles, but more and more businesses are putting together environmental and ethical information about themselves. Don’t be afraid to ask companies to provide you with this information. By demanding this kind of transparency and showing that consumers care about companies’ ethics, a difference can be made to less ethical organisations.
