Executive Summary

Key issues for E&C leaders in a rapidly changing world

Executive Summary

At a time when businesses face enormous uncertainty and pressure, data provides clear guidance to manage risk, develop opportunity, and build a blueprint for sustainable success, no matter what the future holds.

At Ethisphere, we are dedicated to building a better world by advancing business integrity. Our deep expertise in business ethics, combined with decades of partnership with the world’s most respected companies, uniquely positions us to identify the most impactful trends shaping ethics and compliance programs in 2025.

Grounded in this perspective, the insights in this report are designed to help compliance leaders confidently navigate uncertainty and elevate program impact.

Drawing from Ethisphere’s extensive dataset, we'll provide a clear view of the current landscape, highlight how leading organizations are navigating today’s challenges, and offer guidance for building resilient, future-ready programs.

THREE TIPS TO NAVIGATE UNCERTAINTY

Take a Risk-Based Approach

Use your team's unique view of the enterprise to spot risk and solve small problems before they become large ones.

Strengthen E&C Programs and Practices

Show how the ROI in ethics and compliance pays off, builds value, and strategically differentiates your enterprise.

Advance Ethical Culture

Strong cultures deliver higher financial performance, reduce risk & misconduct, and create sustainable blueprints for success.

Real-World Ethics & Compliance Data

For years, Ethisphere has built datasets that prove strong ethics is good business. Millions of culture data points show how companies can make their own cultures more productive and profitable. Our program benchmarking data shows what excellence looks like for organizations seeking to develop best-in-class business integrity. And our Ethics Premium proves how much highly ethical organizations outperform their peers.

This report features insights from Ethisphere's proprietary datasets, the 2025 World’s Most Ethical Companies® and Ethical Culture Data.

PROGRAM DATA ANALYZED:

136

organizations

32K

program data points

EMPLOYEE DATA ANALYZED:

1.2M+

employee responses

41.5M

data points

98

companies

58

countries

The Long-Term Value of Integrity

In times of economic uncertainty, ethics and compliance leaders are often asked to defend the business value of integrity. The data speaks for itself.

Ethisphere’s Five-Year Ethics Premium for 2025 is 7.8%—a figure that reflects the margin by which publicly traded companies recognized as this year’s World’s Most Ethical Companies® outperformed a comparable index of global companies over the five-year period from January 2020 to 2025.

This is not just a financial statistic—it’s a powerful signal. Even amid market volatility and global headwinds, companies that commit to ethical business practices continue to deliver stronger long-term performance.

Ethisphere began calculating the Ethics Premium in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when many questioned whether doing the right thing could coexist with delivering shareholder value. By tracking a shared data point—stock performance—we set out to answer that question.

Year after year, the results have been clear: ethical business is not a tradeoff. It’s a differentiator.

WANT TO DIVE DEEPER?

Explore the data behind the Ethics Premium and learn how companies that prioritize integrity outperform the market.

Learn More

Key Issues for E&C Leaders

Speaking Up

Globally, half of employees who witness misconduct acknowledge they did not report it. Reinforcing a speak-up culture allows risk to surface early and be mitigated more easily.

Risk Mitigation

Proactively identifying, assessing, and addressing emerging risks across the business demands unprecedented E&C visibility, agility, and alignment with enterprise priorities.

Making a Case for Compliance

Amid economic pressure and competing priorities, ethics and compliance teams are navigating cost constraints while remaining essential to enterprise risk strategy.

Ethics & Compliance as a Strategic Partner

E&C’s evolving role as a strategic fixture within the business hinges on building credibility, demonstrating value, and helping leaders navigate ethical risks in pursuit of business goals.

Which topic(s) are concerns for your E&C team?

Speak-up and misconduct reporting
Third-party risk management/due diligence
AI integration and governance
Data privacy laws
Regulatory challenges
Getting a seat at the table