PeopleMuster

Code of conduct template

Codes of conduct go wrong by being noble and vague. Integrity, excellence, passion. Nobody has ever settled a dispute with that list.

Sits above the specific policies and sets the standard the rest point back at. Keep the detailed procedures out of it: grievance, harassment and disciplinary steps each need their own document.

CODE OF CONDUCT — [Company name]
Effective [date] · Applies to everyone, including [founders and directors]

WHAT WE EXPECT

Honesty about work
Say where a task really stands. A late piece of work raised early is a
scheduling problem. The same work raised on the deadline is a broken promise.

Respect in the room
Disagree with the idea. Argue hard. Do not make it about the person, and do
not repeat a joke someone has asked you to stop.

Care with what belongs to others
Client data, colleague data, source code, designs. Take a copy only for work
you are doing, and only onto a company machine.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Tell [your manager and HR] in writing if you, or someone close to you:
  · has a stake in a supplier, client or competitor;
  · would be interviewing or managing a relative or partner;
  · stands to gain personally from a decision you are making here.
Declaring a conflict is not an admission of anything. Hiding one is.

GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
A meal or a small branded item is fine. Anything worth more than
[amount and currency], anything in cash, and anything offered while a
contract is being decided goes to [the finance lead] before you accept it.
Log it in [the gift register].

OUTSIDE WORK
Freelance or teach if you want to. Clear it in writing first if the work is
for a client or a competitor, uses company equipment, or happens in
working hours.

CONFIDENTIALITY
What you learn here about clients, salaries and unreleased work stays here,
during employment and after it ends.

SPEAKING UP
Raise a concern with [your manager, HR, or the named alternative]. Concerns
raised in good faith are taken seriously, and the person raising one is not
penalised for it.

WHEN THE CODE IS BROKEN
Handled under [the disciplinary procedure]. Consequences depend on what
happened and how serious it was, and can go as far as dismissal.

Signed [name], [date].

Before you send it

  • Give every rule a behaviour. Respect is not a rule; not repeating a joke after someone asks you to stop is one. Vague virtues cannot be applied.
  • Set a real figure and currency in the gifts clause. Without a number, everyone uses their own, and the range is wider than you think.
  • Name a second route for concerns, and name a person, not a department. The first route stops working exactly when the concern involves the manager.
  • The final clause points at your disciplinary procedure and should not try to be one. Disciplinary steps and dismissal are heavily shaped by local law and contracts, so have that document reviewed properly.
  • PeopleMuster stores each policy with a category and its own slug. The live instance groups twelve published policies into five categories. Workplace Conduct is one of them.

How policies are stored and published

Questions people ask about this letter

How long should a code of conduct be?

Two pages that people finish beat ten that they skim. Move the detailed procedures out into their own documents and link them.

Does the code apply to founders and directors?

Say so in the first line if it does. A code that visibly stops below the top is the fastest way to teach a team that none of it is real.

What is the point of a gift register?

It turns an awkward judgement call into a routine entry. People declare far more readily when declaring is normal admin rather than a confession.

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