2. Introduction to Code of Conduct

Most people know the difference between right and wrong in a general sense. They live and work within their own sense of morality and ethics.

Of course, there are a number of laws such as the Computer Misuse Act that make it a criminal offence to behave in certain ways. However, beyond these laws, there are behaviours that are not illegal but they are considered unethical and harmful to the interests of the company or institution.

In order to capture these extra behaviours, many companies and professional organisations lay out their own Codes of Conduct.

Most of the time every employee has to abide by these rules or face disciplinary procedures.

And the same applies if they are a member of a professional institute such as the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Codes of Conduct are deemed voluntary as they have no legal standing. But many companies do make them compulsory as part of their conditions of employment.

Before becoming a member of a professional institute, you would have to agree to abide by their codes of conduct.

If you have a good sense of morality, the general rules set out in a Code of Conduct are quite reasonable and self-evident. It is only the very specific ones that you would need to be mindful of.

For example there might be a company rule that does not allow an employee to accept gifts worth than £10 from their outside contacts. This is to stop the unethical practice of accepting bribes.