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Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. continues to do well at being good, cited for the second year running as one of the world’s most ethical companies, the only cruiseline named for the international honor.
The data-driven selection process by the Ethisphere Institute, a global organization that defines and advances ethical business practices, chose RCL as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company® because it and honorees in other categories excel at “the trust factor.”
“I am extremely pleased that Ethisphere has again recognized Royal Caribbean as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies,” said RCL Chairman and CEO Richard D. Fain. “At Royal Caribbean, ethical leadership is an important part of our worldview. We value this honor and we intend to continue following our mantra of continuous improvement.”
Ethisphere’s selection process begins with a highly detailed questionnaire that measures a company’s own recognition of its societal role in influencing and driving positive change, its impact on stakeholders – employees, investors, customers and others – and how its values and culture serve as the foundation for day-to-day decision making.
This provides raw data that’s crunched to determine Ethisphere’s Ethics Quotient® (EQ). Scores are calculated and weighted in five key categories – the applicant’s ethics and compliance program, 35 percent; corporate citizenship and responsibility, 20 percent; culture of ethics, 20 percent; governance, 15 percent; and leadership, innovation and reputation, 10 percent.
The resulting EQ provides an objective, consistent and standardized way to assess the applicant, according to Ethisphere.
Now in its 11th year, the awards program has seen shifts in societal expectations for corporate ethical standards and the geo-political climate, and a constant redefinition of relevant laws and regulations, according to Ethisphere CEO Timothy Erblich.
“We have also seen how companies honored as the World’s Most Ethical respond to these challenges,” Erblich said. “They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage.”
And the response isn’t confined to the workplace, said Vivian Cruz, who was quoted in RCL’s presentation to Ethisphere for the 2017 award. Cruz is manager of human resources and administration at the company’s Manila headquarters in the Philippines.
“I take pride to know that a relatively young organization like our Manila office is complimented with employees who embody the value of integrity and apply it to their personal lives,” Cruz said. In other words, she added, “doing the right things even if no one is looking.”
That’s as good a definition of ethics as any.