Post By: Adam Turteltaub

“Government ethics” is not an oxymoron. In fact, according to Jabu Sengova, Ethics officer for the City of Atlanta, government ethics programs are very real.

In this podcast she provides an overview of how Atlanta’s works. She shares that when it comes to ethics in the public sector there are several areas of focus including conflicts of interest and the misuse of public assets such as credit cards and cars.

Managing conflicts of interest has been a particular problem during the pandemic. With employees working from home there has been a noted increase of incidents revolving around second jobs and operating a business on the side. It is a problem likely facing the private sector as well.

And, of course, there are the ongoing challenges involving gifts and gratuities, especially for those city employees who work regularly with contractors and vendors.

Meeting these challenges isn’t easy for the ethics team. They serve a large 8,000 person employee base  with very limited resources. In addition, until recently there was a strong preference for in-person training. Atlanta is only now moving into elearning.

Yet, despite lagging in some areas, there is much, Jabu argues, that corporate compliance programs could learn from government ones, including resiliency. She notes that in her time there she has worked for three different mayors.

Business could also learn about doing more with less, she believes. For much of her time in Atlanta, there were only two or three members of the ethics team.

Listen in to learn more about government ethics programs and what everyone can learn from them.