Ethics in Business

The Adirondack Samaritan Counseling Center at 15 Boulevard in Hudson Falls has been providing quality mental health services to children, adolescents and adults in Warren, Washington, Essex and Saratoga counties since 1983, working with hospitals, schools, churches, and other community agencies to ensure the best possible treatment outcome.

Purpose

The counseling center recognizes the connections of ethical behavior to the physical, psychological and spiritual health of the community, as explored in the story of the good samaritan. The center affirms the influence of employment practices, business conduct and workplace conditions on mental health. In sponsoring the Ethics in Business Awards, the center is promoting ethical practices in our communities, encouraging local businesses, agencies and individuals to aspire to be considered for the awards. The awards also serve as a way for the center to raise its public profile and to raise money for the center’s operation.

Inaugural Honorees

The Center is pleased to recognize the following winners for this first-ever Ethics in Business Award

Small Business: O’Brien Insurance

Medium Business: Hilltop Construction

Large Business: Glens Falls National Bank & Trust Co.

The winners were chosen from a field of outstanding companies nominated by community members for their ethical conduct, integrity and civic responsibility within and without their organizations.

Selection Process

The Adirondack Samaritan Counseling Center board of directors worked closely with SUNY Adirondack’s second-year business ethics class to develop a rigorous and quantitative analysis to measure the ethical behavior of each of the nominees. The center recognizes the unique challenges of “measuring” ethics, and criteria were established to review nominees’ core values such as integrity, fairness, honesty, community involvement and public service.

A broad range of attributes were reviewed, including:

• engagement of employees in volunteerism and community service
• breadth and depth of support for charitable and philanthropic causes
• emphasis on employee health and safety
• promotion of diversity
• history and reputation for ethical business practices
• tone at the top of the organization that reinforces the importance of ethics
• a business culture that supports compliance with laws and regulations
• strong ethics and conflict of interest policies and codes of conduct
• explicit set of core values that guide behavior
• effective risk management practices
• effective strategies to detect and prevent misconduct
• ethically responsive behavior when organizational mistakes have been discovered

A Public Celebration of the Honorees

The Adirondack Samaritan Counseling Center will host an awards banquet to formally recognize the recipients of the first-ever Ethics in Business Awards on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 6 p.m. at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls. The public is invited to join us as we honor three outstanding ethical businesses in the region. Tickets for the banquet are $60, and can be purchased by calling 747-2994.