High Ethical Standards Are an Integral Part of Sodexo’s Company Culture
By Jennifer Heth, Senior Recruiter

Corporate ethics are becoming increasingly important to job seekers when deciding where they want to work and to employees when deciding if they want to stay with their current employer. Sodexo understands the importance of maintaining high ethical standards, policies and programs. So much so, that it was recently named one of the 2009 World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, a research-based international think tank focused on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability issues.

So what makes one company more or less ethical than the next? The criteria that the Ethisphere Institute considered while deciding on its 2009 winners included: codes of ethics; litigation and regulatory infraction histories; investment in innovation and sustainable business practices; activities designed to improve corporate citizenship; nominations from senior executives; and industry peers, suppliers and customers, in addition to speaking with consumer action groups for feedback. The Ethisphere Institute analyzed these factors for more than 10,000 companies in order to determine what it deems to be the most ethical companies globally. Sodexo was in good company along with Zappos.com, Starbucks, Pepsico, General Mills and others that also earned this distinction.

Arlin Wasserman, VP of Corporate Citizenship at Sodexo, believes that "any company that wants to act in an ethical manner has to put a priority on being transparent." Wasserman continued by stating that what this means for Sodexo is that "our employees, our customers and our business partners all are clear about why decisions are made and that the same information is available within the company and also to our partners and stakeholders. Ethical business also means looking at how your activities impact other stakeholders, such as the health and well-being of the people we serve, the vitality of the communities where we do business, and our impact on our environment, both today and in the future."