CREATING & PROMOTING A CULTURE OF ETHICS & INTEGRITY IN - PDF document

7/13/2018 1 CREATING & PROMOTING A CULTURE OF ETHICS & INTEGRITY IN GOVERNMENT Saratu Ghartey , Chief Program Accountability Officer NYC Department of Social Services Cynthia Mbu-Etonga , Assistant Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Social Services 2 Why is it hard to do the right thing? The evidence is overwhelming that most of us wish to be good people and believe ourselves to be such, yet we commonly lie and cheat to advantage ourselves. 1

7/13/2018 3 Why do Good People do Bad Things? Some psychological reasons:  Downplaying or rationalizing the bad act The human ability to look at acts and situations in a self-serving way and to rationalize enables most of us to pat ourselves on the backs for being ethical people, yet frequently depart from our own standards  Pressure to perform or conform  Pygmalion effect—people act the way they are treated https://www.inc.com/travis-bradberry/14-psychological-forces-that- make-good-people-do-bad-things.html 4 IN THE NEWS: HIGH PROFILE CASES of Corruption in Government  Scott Pruitt, Head of EPA  William F. Boyland Jr., NYS Assemblyman  Daniel Halloran III, NYC Councilman  Efrain González Jr., NYS Senator & Malcolm Smith, NYS Senator & Maj. Leader  Brian M. McLaughlin, NYS Assemblyman & Anthony S. Seminerio, NYS Assemblyman  Jane Swift, Massachusetts Lt. Gov. 2

7/13/2018 5 ETHICS & INTEGRITY What are the accepted standards of conduct: are they limited to formalized standards? 6 Definitions  ETHICS : moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.  INTEGRITY : The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Via Oxford Dictionary 3

7/13/2018 7 "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." -C. S. Lewis 8 ETHICS LAWS vs ETHICAL NORMS or CULTURE Ethics Laws: Codes, Statutes, written law 1. etc. Ethical Norms: Culturally accepted values 2. and principles. Morality. Agreed upon Standards of Appropriateness Every organization has it’s own unique culture- accepted and understood behavior OR “ Corporate Culture” 4

7/13/2018 9 LEGALITY, MORALITY & ETHICS  MORALITY and ETHICS often EXCEED THE LAW  What is Right and What is Wrong (Moral/Ethical)  Instead of What is Allowed (Legal) 10 WHY MUST GOVERNMENT HAVE INTEGRITY? 5

7/13/2018 11 "When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property." - Thomas Jefferson "Public service is public trust." 12 ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT MEANS HONESTY & TRANSPARENCY AVOIDING: bribery, political corruption, conflict of interest, avoiding the appearance of impropriety etc. 6

7/13/2018 13 GOVERNING RULES GOVERNING BODIES 14 ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT FEDERAL & STATE (not exhaustive) The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Provides advise and guidance • for maintaining the integrity of government programs and operations. Does not handle complaints of misconduct, nor does OGE have investigative or prosecutorial authority. OGE's mission is one of prevention. • The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (“JCOPE” or “The Commission”) was established as part of the Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011, which comprehensively reformed the oversight and regulation of ethics and lobbying in New York State. JCOPE was created to restore public trust in government by ensuring compliance with the State’s ethics and lobbying laws and regulations. New York State law (General Municipal Law § 806(1)(a)) requires that the governing body for each county, city, town and village adopt an ethics code setting forth the standard of conduct that is expected of its municipal officers and employees. 7

7/13/2018 15 ETHICS IN NYC GOVERNMENT NYC Conflict of Interest Board 1. • Chapter 68, the City's "Ethics Law” NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) 2. Executive Order 16 • Agency Compliance Officers 3. EEO • Legal Depts. • 16 ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT The Stakes  High-profile cases of corruption and mismanagement can color public perceptions of the legitimacy and quality of government action.  Improving the ethical behavior of government employees is fundamental to the legitimacy of democratic governance. 8

7/13/2018 17 ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT The Stakes There must be a measure of trust and integrity in public institutions and officials. When there is no trust programs, administrations and agendas are at risk 18 PUBLIC OPINION ON GOVERNMENT Public trust in the government remains near historic lows. Only 18% of Americans today say they can trust the • government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3%) or “most of the time” (15%). This is from a high of 77% in 1964. Pew Research Center • Citizens Budget Commission 2017 NYC Resident Survey: 20% agree that City properly spends $$$ • Think “waste, fraud, abuse, corruption” • 9

7/13/2018 19 Challenges to Creating an Ethical Culture Competition from Operational priorities 1. Lack of Buy-In 2. Inadequate Reporting of Misconduct 3. Inadequate Enforcement/Discipline 4. Compliance Fatigue 5. Limited Resources 6. HUMAN NATURE 7. Greed  Peer pressure …  20 LEGAL vs. ETHICAL 10

7/13/2018 21 CREATING AND PROMOTING AN ETHICAL CULTURE 22 CREATING AND PROMOTING AN ETHICAL CULTURE What does Ethical Culture mean for Local Government? What is Agency Culture? 11

7/13/2018 23 ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT IN THE NEWS  Walter Shaub, The former head of the OGE ( Office of Government Ethics ) recently said the following: “To have someone … adopt an attitude of ‘We’re going to do the bare minimum of what is legal, and we’re going to do things that are questionable , as long as there is an argument that, maybe, it’s legal,’ is completely at odds with the way the program has been run for forty years, because we’ve all understood that there is a practice and a body of things that you do to make these bare-bones rules work” 24 THE KEY Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do. Potter Stewart 12

7/13/2018 25 BUILDING THE FRAMEWORK 26 13

7/13/2018 27 7 ELEMENTS Written policies and procedures 1. Designated compliance officer and 2. compliance committee Due Diligence in hiring practices 3. Effective training/education & Effective lines 4. of communication Internal monitoring and auditing 5. Enforcement of standards through well- 6. publicized disciplinary guidelines Prompt response to detected problems 7. through corrective actions 28 Prevention People need to know WHAT they should 1. be doing.  Clear policies and procedures  Training  Monitoring  Due diligence 2. People need to know where to report misconduct/noncompliance 14

7/13/2018 29 Prevention: RISK ASSESSMENTS Good governance requires proper assessment. Assessment is necessary to verify the effectiveness of integrity and corruption prevention policies. 30 Prevention: RISK ASSESSMENTS Agency awareness 1. Risk Prioritization 2. Solutions or Risk Mitigation Strategies 3. 15

7/13/2018 31 PREVENTION: DATA ANALYTICS Sometimes, you don’t need anyone to say anything, let the DATA do the talking Using data not only or performance 1. measurement, but for the qualitative measurements Proactively identifying ethical lapses, 2. insufficient internal controls etc. 32 PREVENTION: DATA ANALYTICS  For example: Data shows trends across areas.  Which centers over issuing.  Which centers have duplicate issuances  Which Employees reviewing cases they shouldn’t. etc.  How providers rank in their inspections 16

7/13/2018 33 Communication & Education  Set the expectation through regular communications regarding ethical standards  Compliance newsletters  HR communications 34 COMMUNICATION: PLANTING THE SEED  The goal is to ensure that from the moment an employee starts with the agency , they are made aware of the culture they are becoming a part of. It needs to be in every communication they receive and in the amount of importance it is given. 17

7/13/2018 35 Compliance Newsletter Tips  Make them interesting e.g. Use recent news stories  Learn from recent internal investigations  Highlight findings from internal or external audits  Welcome feedback and ideas from employees  Circulate on a regular schedule  Develop a platform for these to exist  Intranet, website, SharePoint 36 Response to Lapses Reporting misconduct 1.  Hotlines and portals for filing complaints, tips, etc. Responses must be swift, consistent and 2. fair  Discipline and Enforcement 18

7/13/2018 37 Response to Lapses: Transparency  Create a transparent process for handling reports of fraud, waste and abuse.  Employees need to know outcomes (not necessarily specific)  Assure staff that reported violations are being handled appropriately with adequate resolutions 38 USING TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY Internal communication 1. External transparent communication 2. Use of social media 1. Much of government is hidden from the 2. public Combat this by using a variety of ways to 1. connect and communicate Provide messaging around the agency’s 2. culture and values 19