By Adam Turteltaub
Listen up people: It’s all about the people.
That’s the key message from Gabor Sulyok, Global Head of Commercial and Healthcare Compliance at BioNTech and experienced senior compliance counsel Luciane Mallmann.
At its core, ethics and compliance is a human endeavor. While regulations and standards provide the structure, it’s the people within an organization who bring these principles to life. A people-centered approach to compliance programs enhances engagement, supports better decision-making, and fosters a culture of integrity. From design to execution, every aspect of the program should reflect a deep understanding of how people learn, behave, and interact.
This means rethinking how we educate, maintain awareness, and ensure accountability. Policies must be relatable and actionable. Training should be immersive and role-specific. And accountability should be balanced with support to avoid creating a risk-averse culture.
They explain in the podcast that there are three key elements of a people-centered framework:
Speak-Up Culture A healthy program starts with psychological safety. Employees must feel empowered to raise concerns without fear of retaliation.
Transparency and Accountability Transparency builds trust. Training should include real-life ethical dilemmas and storytelling that resonates with employees. Sharing actual cases from within the company helps humanize compliance and makes it more relatable. Accountability, meanwhile, must be visible and fair. Leaders should model ethical behavior and be the first to complete training, setting the tone from the top.
Ethical Decision-Making Decision-making frameworks should incorporate diverse perspectives and encourage thoughtful deliberation. Employees need tools to navigate ambiguity, and those tools must be grounded in the organization’s values.
Listen in to learn more about how to put people front and center in your ethics and compliance program.
