Conflict of Interest and how do you help your company implement a policy?
While we come across numerous terminologies in an organisational setup, we often hear the words “Conflict of Interest”. What do these words mean? Conflict of Interest indicates a tendency of an individual since there could be a possible clash between his interest and professional interest.
Conflict of Interest recently hit Sam, a manager working in a corporate firm. Last week, Sam spoke to me about Julie, working as an assistant executive, quite a responsible and hard-working lady in Sam’s company. She had been a matter of gossip for quite a few months since she had an export business which was against the Conflict of Interest policy.
Ideally, all employees sign the conflict of interest questionnaire and update it when they involve in any business. The signed forms are submitted for review to the upper committee in the organisation.
Should Conflict of Interest Policy be a Compulsion?
Ideally, all businesses should have a Conflict of Interest Policy in place that needs to be followed by all the employees. To develop a policy, organisational employees need to work off the definition and develop the company-specific policies that are as per the rules and regulations of the company.
We at Violet Infosystems have been working with businesses of all sizes, our cloud-based platform is a robust system to track, report and investigate instances of Conflict of Interest in the workplace.
Variable Conflict of Interest? Yes, it’s possible!
Every industry type is different and hence depending on the industry, we design unique policies that comply with company rules. The process is quite simple, starting with general policy and then extending it to meet specific requirements of the business. The policy should be updated and evaluated every year and can be a part of the company culture.
Concluding the case –
Julie joined the organisation a year back and did sign the policy. However, the company policy was a decade old and not updated according to the latest business standards hence it gave rise to a conflict of interest.
Julie was doing online export business, for which no option was given in the old form. Hence, after properly reviewing the type of business she is into and the customers she held, we got her to fill up the latest questionnaire. Later, we fixed a counselling session with Julie and brainstorming was done by compliance experts to bring out an amicable solution.