| IS THAT FOR ME… OR MY TENDER? |
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By Janus Nieuwoudt The thin blue line between gifts and bribes is an everyday headache in the corporate arena. The question to be asked is; do you allow your employees the opportunity to get corporate gifts from other companies, or is it taboo, purely due to the amount of corruption in everyday business? A ‘gifts and bribes’ policy is an integral part of sound business practice. Things to be included in this policy are fraud and corruption, gifts and bribes. You might ask, what does that have to do with you? Well quite simple really even if you are a small business. The definition of fraud according to ‘Practical Guide to Human Resources Management’ is the following: “Criminal deception, the use of false representations to gain an adjust advantage, dishonest artifice or trick, a person or thing not fulfilling expectation.” What most professionals do not know is that fraud can stretch from anything as simple as an employee signing as a director or clocking in for a fellow employee; right out to the hardcore offences like changing IRP5 information or altering already signed off documents. Bearing that in mind, how harmless is corporate gifting really? Are corporate gifts really just a novelty? Having a proper gifts and bribes policy can save you and your employees a lot of hassle. In this document certain fundamentals should be included. For instance, there is no crime in distinguishing between gifts and bribes, we all do certain favours- well reasonable above board favours - for our clients. A gift in that situation is fine, however, when you feel obligated to do business with them because of the gift, well then, that is clearly a bribe. Back to the safeguarding of you and your employees, a number of principles should be taken into account when drafting your gifts and bribes policy. Unfortunately this will involve quite a number of man-hours, as this is indeed a two way street. Things to determine for instance are to obtain a copy of similar policies from your clients and contractors. Obtain frequency, appropriateness, receivers and motives for gifts. Receiving gifts is a bit trickier, yet so simple. Ask yourself two things: motive and benefit, and voila. Your teenager might be nagging you for a 1-series “Beemer”, but that does not make it right to get it from a supplier on a tender, to supply your fleet with delivery vehicles. To leave the doomsday-like approach behind, just be careful. According to the new Corruption Act 12 of 2004 it is a criminal offence not to report corruption, theft or fraud, or a suspicion thereof in excess of R100 000.00 to the police. As for the whistle blowers, they are protected under whistle blower legislation. So no, you cannot fire them. So next time you sip French Champagne on a balcony in Fresnye, think of the implications there of. |