A public company for only five years, LinkedIn Corporation has proven itself to be a pioneer in its development of progressive policies built on a foundation of sound ethical values. “As a startup, we built an amazing culture that still resonates today, even as we’ve grown into an organization of more than 9,000 employees,” says Amyn Thawer, Head of Global Compliance & Integrity at LinkedIn. “Our challenge was to cement and scale a compliance and ethics program early on that could keep up with our amazing growth.”
Although their workforce has nearly doubled in size since Thawer joined the company two years ago, the compliance team has worked hard to ensure that their policies and corporate culture have evolved in tandem, and kept pace with the rapid development.
“I’m proud of how seamlessly our compliance and ethics programs have folded into the corporate culture,” says Thawer. “Because we’ve tried to innovate around every aspect of an effective compliance framework, we’ve created a program that mirrors our values and is well-suited to our great culture.
“Given the pace of innovation at our company, we’d be remiss if we adopted a check-the-box type compliance program. Continually improving the quality and delivery of our policies, training and communications is critical in adding value and keeping our program relevant to our demanding constituencies.”
The proof is evident, he says, in the way the company invests its people and resources toward the public good. “This investment can be truly impactful when a company leverages its unique strengths to drive positive change,” he comments.
“At LinkedIn, we’re keeping underserved populations top-of-mind because we know that will help us realize our vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce…. Knowing that there’s corporate support behind this, our employees are inspired to make a difference not only for LinkedIn, but for the communities in which we live.”
As groundbreakers in their field, attaining World’s Most Ethical Company status has been a next logical step on the company’s developmental path, and consistent with the values it has cultivated and upheld. “At LinkedIn, one of our core values is ‘Demand Excellence.’ We know that by demanding excellence of ourselves and one another, we can realize our vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.
“That excellence bar we set for ourselves prompted us to set our sights on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list. It’s a great yardstick by which we measure our progress, learn from our peer companies, and then iterate, improve and repeat.”
