Procedures
Introduction
to Procedures
Boeing Policy NB-AAG-200,
"Ethical Business Conduct," and and related procedures
constitute companywide standards of conduct.
This procedure
provides an overview of the Boeing ethics and business conduct program
and employees' responsibilities. It describes the offices, personnel,
and procedures that are part of the program. It establishes the
company's ethics and business conduct education requirements and
gives information on how employees can resolve business ethics concerns.
It also establishes the companyĆs framework for assuring an effective
program to prevent and detect violations of law.
Structure
- The Ethics and
Business Conduct Committee (the "Committee") is appointed
by the Board of Directors.
- The director
of Ethics and Business Conduct is appointed by the chairman and
chief executive officer. The director manages the Office of Ethics
and Business Conduct, including the Boeing Ethics Line. The director
coordinates ethics advisor and compliance oversight activities.
- The Boeing Ethics
Line provides all Boeing employees and others with a means of
communicating questions and concerns regarding matters that may
be in violation of Boeing policy, procedures, laws, or regulations,
such as improper, illegal, or unethical business practices and
health, safety, and environmental issues.
- Executive series
ethics advisors are appointed by the senior executive of each
major operating segment in consultation with the director of Ethics
and Business Conduct.
- Business ethics
advisors, located at business unit operating locations ("ethics
advisors"), are appointed by the senior executive of the
business unit in consultation with the executive series ethics
advisor or the director of Ethics and Business Conduct.
Employee
Concerns
- Employees are
encouraged to address questions or concerns with management. The
employee may also direct questions or concerns regarding company
standards of conduct to ethics advisors or to the Boeing Ethics
Line.
- Retaliation
against employees who raise genuine concerns to any company source
will not be tolerated. Retaliation or retribution against any
employee for proper use of reporting mechanisms is cause for appropriate
discipline, up to and including dismissal.
- Violations of
the company standards of conduct are cause for appropriate corrective
action including discipline.
General
Requirements
- Education Programs
- The director
of Ethics and Business Conduct will establish a companywide
ethics and business conduct education program designed to ensure
that all employees have an awareness of the Boeing values and
the standards of conduct. All employees will participate in
a formal session at least once a year. The operating segments
will document, and maintain records of, participation in formal
sessions.
- Each operating
segment will establish a compliance education program designed
to ensure employees have an awareness of legal requirements
that are relevant to their work at a level of detail appropriate
to their job functions. The frequency, participants, mode of
presentation, materials, program emphasis and other criteria
of the program will be established with guidance from the Law
Department and the Office of Ethics and Business Conduct. The
operating segment will maintain appropriate records and periodically
review its education program to ensure compliance with this
procedure.
- Managers and
other employees in sensitive positions, such as sales, marketing,
finance, contracts, and materiel, require more comprehensive
education as well as periodic refresher courses. Contract labor,
consultants, and others acting for the company must also be
made aware of and are expected to adhere to Boeing standards
of conduct.
- Publicity and
Communication
- Ethics and
business conduct booklets will be approved by the Committee
and distributed within the company as the Committee directs.
Booklets will be made available to customers and public organizations
upon request. Suppliers, consultants, and contract labor will
receive booklets and education as the Committee directs.
- The telephone
number of the Boeing Ethics Line will be publicized in each
issue of Boeing News and, as appropriate, on work area posters.
The telephone numbers of ethics advisors may also be listed.
Responsibilities
- Company Employees
- Responsibility
for the company's commitment to integrity rests with each employee.
- Each employee
is responsible for complying with the companywide standards
of conduct and for raising questions if the employee is concerned
that the standards are not being met.
- All managers
are responsible for:
- Being familiar
with and promoting the Boeing values.
- Supporting
implementation of and monitoring compliance with Boeing Policy
NB-AAG-200, "Ethical Business Conduct." Management
responsibilities include:
- Being
familiar with the companywide standards of conduct required
of all employees and the resources available to assist them
in resolving questions or concerns.
- Promoting
compliance with the standards of conduct established by
Boeing and applicable laws, and ensuring that employees
are aware of these standards and the legal requirements
relevant to their work.
- Maintaining
a work environment that encourages open communication regarding
ethics, business conduct and legal issues and concerns.
- Promptly
forwarding to the appropriate functional organization or
to ethics advisors or the Boeing Ethics Line any matters
received pursuant to 3.A that the manager regards as potentially
significant.
- The senior
executive of each operating segment has overall responsibility
to oversee compliance, within the segment with the standards
of conduct and applicable laws. The chair of the Committee has
this responsibility for the Company Offices organizations. Responsibility
to oversee compliance includes:
- Supporting
implementation of the ethics and business conduct program
in the operating segment.
- Appointing
an executive series ethics advisor in consultation with the
director of Ethics and Business Conduct for each major operating
segment. Appointing an appropriate number of business ethics
advisors for other operating segments.
- Ensuring
adequate compliance education programs (see 4.A.2).
- Maintaining
mechanisms for monitoring compliance with company policies
and procedures and applicable laws.
- Taking appropriate
corrective action, including discipline.
- Ethics and Business
Conduct Committee
- The Committee
issues procedures, policy directives, guidelines, and communications
to further the objectives of the company's ethics and business
conduct program.
- The Committee
approves the company's ethics and business conduct booklets
and determines distribution of such booklets within and outside
the company.
- The Committee
oversees the company's ethics and business conduct program and
related compliance activities.
- The Committee
receives an annual report from Internal Audit on the status
of monitoring activities in the company to ensure compliance
with company policies, procedures and legal obligations. (see
5.F.2)
- The Committee
reports periodically to the Audit Committee of the Board of
Directors on the company's ethics and business conduct program
and related compliance activities.
- The Director
of Ethics and Business Conduct
- The director
of Ethics and Business Conduct administers the company's ethics
and business conduct program. The director establishes companywide
processes to assist employees in obtaining guidance, resolving
questions, expressing concerns and reporting suspected violations
of the standards of conduct and the law.
- The director
works with the operating segments to continuously improve ongoing
programs, to establish companywide criteria for ethics education
and awareness programs and to coordinate compliance oversight
activities. The director works with the ethics advisors to implement
the procedures, policy directives, guidelines, and communications
of the Committee.
- The director
directs the activities of the ethics advisors by:
- Establishing
guidelines and procedures for ethics advisors, including uniform
requirements for collecting and reporting facts and data regarding
ethics activities.
- Providing
functional leadership to ensure companywide consistency regarding
ethics policy, issues, and ethics and business conduct education
programs.
- The director
serves as the ethics advisor for the company offices.
- The director
serves as secretary of the Committee.
- As to the
Boeing Ethics Line, and ethics advisors who accept communications
described in 2.C, the director ensures that:
- Measures
are taken to maintain confidentiality, protect anonymity,
and eliminate fear of retribution.
- Reported
concerns are reviewed and investigated by Internal Audit,
Human Resources, Security, the Law Department, operating segment
ethics advisors, or executive-level management, or others
as appropriate.
- Appropriate
management is advised of investigation findings and recommended
corrective actions.
- A follow-up
system is maintained to ensure that appropriate corrective
actions are taken.
- If possible,
investigation results and corrective actions are communicated
to employees who reported concerns.
- Executive Series
Ethics Advisors
- Executive
series ethics advisors administer the ethics and business conduct
program and related compliance activities within the operating
segment and direct activities of the operating location ethics
advisors.
- Executive
series ethics advisors report to the senior executive of the
operating segment and to the director of Ethics and Business
Conduct.
- Executive
series ethics advisors coordinate operating segment compliance
activities with the director of Ethics and Business Conduct.
- Business Ethics
Advisors
- Ethics advisors
provide employees with decision-making guidance and answer questions
or concerns regarding the standards of conduct.
- Ethics advisors
for major operating segments report to the senior executive
of the business unit and the executive series ethics advisor.
- For operating
segments that do not have an executive series ethics advisor,
business ethics advisors report to the senior executive of the
segment and to the director of Ethics and Business Conduct and
perform such additional activities as directed.
- Internal Audit
- The Vice President
- General Auditor provides appropriate auditing and evaluation
of systems and processes that monitor compliance with company
policies and procedures and legal obligations. The Vice President
- General Auditor consults with the Vice President and General
Counsel concerning appropriate systems to be monitored for legal
and regulatory compliance.
- Internal Audit
conducts assessments and reports annually to the Committee on
(a) the status of monitoring activities in the company to ensure
compliance with company procedures and legal obligations and
(b) whether the company's ethics and business conduct program
and related compliance activities meet the criteria established
in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for an effective program
to prevent and detect violations of law.
- Local Ethics
Committees
- Business unit
operating locations may establish a local ethics committee,
chaired by the ethics advisor, to assist in fulfilling the operating
segment's responsibility to support the ethics and business
conduct program.
- The local
ethics committee will operate in accordance with guidelines
established by the director of Ethics and Business Conduct.
- The senior
executive for the operating location appoints members of the
local ethics committee in consultation with the executive ethics
advisor or the director of Ethics and Business Conduct.
Ethical Business
Conduct - Questions and Answers
Does the company
really expect employees to adhere to the ethical business conduct
policy even if it means losing business or reducing profitability?
Yes. Maintaining
high ethical standards is essential to staying in business and maintaining
long-term profitability
I have heard
that the Boeing ethics policy is a response to the Federal Government
program against waste, fraud, and abuse and is not really applicable
to the commercial portion of our business. Is this correct?
No. The ethics
policy is applicable to both the commercial and government segments
of our business. However, some of the procedures address issues
unique to government.
Who are the
business ethics advisors?
They are senior
managers who have access to top management and who are well versed
in Boeing standards of conduct. They are responsible for advising
Boeing employees on how to interpret and apply the standards.
Will I get into
trouble with my manager if I call the Boeing Ethics Line or my business
ethics advisor about an ethics issue?
No. Boeing policy
encourages employees to express concerns about ethical issues and
to report any suspected violations. Boeing will make every effort
to maintain the confidentiality of the caller. The company will
not tolerate retaliation against employees who properly use company
reporting mechanisms.
Do the Boeing
ethics policies apply to consultants?
Yes. When consultants
are hired by the company, they are expected to adhere to the same
standards as Boeing employees. The policies also apply to subsidiary
employees, contract labor, and others acting for the company.
I think some
members of my work group may be charging time to an incorrect charge
number. What should I do?
First, discuss
your concern with your manager. Make sure that there is no misunderstanding
about the work they are doing. If that doesn't resolve the problem,
you should consider seeking advice from your next-level manager,
your business ethics advisor, or the Boeing Ethics Line. Time must
be charged correctly.
Something doesn't
feel right to me but I don't feel comfortable approaching my manager.
Can a business ethics advisor really help?
A business ethics
advisor can listen to your concerns and suggest approaches to resolving
the issues. You can also call the Boeing Ethics Line. Trust your
sense of integrity; if it doesn't feel right, you should seek guidance.
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