When you hire employees, you generally hire people with good ethical values. Along those same lines, employees themselves want to work for companies that are both ethical and charitable.
In the UK, a survey demonstrated that employees wanted to work for ethical companies, where nearly half of the participants felt that they wanted to do meaningful work that helped others. 38% of employers value an ‘ethical workplace’ to be of first or second importance.
Further, Fortune notes that companies who give back are more successful, saying that it’s no surprise that the list of Best Companies to Work For includes companies who give back and have a purpose.
All of that is to say that business ethics do matter. If you want to keep your own company accountable and you want to hire ethical people, then why wouldn’t you extend that to any service providers you hire? If you’re redesigning your website or updating your SEO behind the scenes or revamping your content strategy, here’s why you should hire an ethical company.
Ethical companies have integrity
When you work with an ethical company, you know they too have integrity. They will work with honesty to their deadline. You won’t be straddled with an unexpected invoice for work that’s out of the original scope. You won’t be told that you need one thing, but then billed for something else. When you work with ethical partners, you get what you pay for every time.
Ethical companies aren’t all about the bottom line
Companies with ethical values want their clients to do well and sometimes that may mean spending a little extra unbilled time on a project. Because, after all, your success is their success too and they always want to put their best work forward. Of course, every business has to make a profit to be operational, but when you hire a company with ethics, you know that they are providing a service for a fair price, not making astronomical profits at your expense.
With website building and correcting on-page and off-page SEO, companies often take more time than quoted in order to correct and fix issues because something inevitably comes up that needs addressing. Ethical companies will always tell you what to expect regarding costs and you’ll never be billed for more than your quoted price or retainer.
Ethical companies believe in their clients
Companies with ethics are selective with who they work with and for, which means that if they say yes to the project, they truly believe in it too. Ethical companies celebrate your victories and successes and want to be part of that prosperity; they choose work they are well suited to and deliver exceptional results so they can see their clients succeed.
In SEO and website building, websites can often make or break companies. Understanding that websites have to be mobile-friendly and mobile-optimized, AI-first, voice-ready, aware of Google’s search journeys and major updates, accessible, and everything else takes lots of behind the scenes work. It’s easy to create a ‘pretty’ interface, but it’s not easy to ensure all of the technical aspects of SEO are under control so that a client’s website continues to perform months and years to come. Hiring an ethical company will mean that the work is done to a high standard without shortcuts taken.
Ethical companies fulfill their contractual obligations (and then some)
Along those same lines, companies with ethics do exactly what they say they will do. Sometimes, in the world of SEO and website building, that means doing a little (or a lot) extra. Many companies strive to deliver more than their promises to keep their clients happy and in hopes of retaining those clients in the future. It’s cheaper to retain clients than to attract new ones, so ethical companies realize that doing quality work is their bread and butter.
How some big companies give back
Remember that statistic about how companies that give back are more successful? Nothing could be more case in point than the fact that The Coca-Cola Company, The Walt Disney Company, Amway, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market give back (in the millions) and are huge successes in the business world.
In 2015 alone, The Coca-Cola company donated over $117 million, including over $8 million of employee matching gifts. And since 1984, they have donated over $820 million, committing 1% of the previous year’s operating income to the foundation and other charitable giving to enhance community sustainability.
Also in 2015, The Walt Disney Company donated over $333 million to nonprofit organizations and Disney encourages their employees to volunteer in their VoluntEARS program where employees have given over 2.4 million hours of service since 2012.
Amway’s mission of ‘Helping People Live Better Lives’ has focused on helping children in need. They have raised over $225 million and 3.1 million volunteer hours for their cause.
Starbucks gave $6.9 million to nonprofits in 2015. Starbucks also has a ‘Starbucks College Achievement Plan‘ where they pay tuition for full-time and part-time employees who meet their program requirements. Their program often helps underprivileged young workers meet their dreams of attending college. The program will cost over $250 million over the next decade to fund, yet Starbucks remains committed. CEO Howard Schultz notes that the economy will benefit from a more educated workforce.
Whole Foods strives to alleviate poverty in sixty-nine countries, countries where they source their products. They also support a ‘School Salad Bar Program’, ‘School Garden Grant Program’ and a ‘Healthy Teachers Program’, bringing healthy, nutritious food to underserved communities.
Overall, employees, consumers, and partners can all get on board with ethical companies who give back.
Why and how Key Medium gives back
Key Medium dedicates a portion of its time to supporting the Coding for Causes program. We are partners with the ‘Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia’, giving back to the community and donating time, websites, and SEO services to those in need.
Read our case studies
Want to find out more about what we do and how we have helped other companies succeed? Take a look at our case studies. We are committed to helping companies grow so we can help our community.
Elaine Frieman holds a Master’s Degree and is a UK-based professional editor, educational writer, and former marketing agency content writer where she wrote articles for disparate clients using SEO best practice. She enjoys reading, writing, walking in the countryside, traveling, spending time with other people’s cats, and going for afternoon tea.
