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Does GW have an ethics statement, code of ethics, or something similar avaible to the public? I'm currently looking for it and find it odd that an independent company does not have one.

They might have one that is part of their employee handbook and not available to the general public.

I really want to say something smarmy like, "you must be new to Games Workshops business practices then."

But, I won't. Nope, not at all.

They do have something similar to an ethics statement for staff, it's in the Employee handbook and the Little Red Book.

I'd be happy to make scans of them and post them later this week, unless they'll be taken down or against the rules.

Let me know and I'll get the relevant pages scanned and posted.

This is the best I can find, Amaya.

They probably keep that in the employee handbook, as others have said. purplehippo might be a former employee, so maybe he knows.

Humorously enough if you go to investors.games-workshop.com and search "ethics" you will get 0 results...

prplehippo wrote:
They do have something similar to an ethics statement for staff, it's in the Employee handbook and the Little Red Book.

I'd be happy to make scans of them and post them later this week, unless they'll be taken down or against the rules.

Let me know and I'll get the relevant pages scanned and posted.

If you could do that I'd really appreciate it. Have to do a paper on a company's ethics policies for my Business Ethics course and I'd like to do GW.

That might be interestingly topical...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21409490

Is it odd though Amaya?

If I started a company, I wouldn't write a code of ethics, except perhaps an amusing limerick or sign behind the counter like they have in bars.

"Break it, Buy it"

Or something.. why would it be unusual not to have one?

I figured in our stable first world democracies most companies wouldn't have an actual code of ethics written down that they follow, they would just obey the laws in relevant countries, such as minimum wage and labour laws and such. Local legislation covers it all, its not like I would need to take the time to write my own code of ethics when its already covered anyway.

You know.. like we would legally have to follow UK worker laws, so I don't need to write things like..

"Here at Matty's Seafood, we always strive to hire illegally trafficked Chinese winkle pickers instead of British citizens, we can pay them in gruel, and this allows us to keep costs down, which we can pass onto you, our wonderful customers. Sure they cant swim and the odd one may drown, but in line with our eco friendly business practices, their bodies will be boiled into a protein rich broth, and they will be fed back into the ocean to help suckle a new generation of aquatic life "

 Amaya wrote:
Does GW have an ethics statement, code of ethics, or something similar avaible to the public? I'm currently looking for it and find it odd that an independent company does not have one.

Does Wizards of the coast have one? Does Privateer Press have one? Does Mantic Games have one? Does Reaper have one?

Google searches returned none that I could find for all these companies. So really? is this a legit thread or Troll thread?

If they have any, it is probably in their employee handbook and is not necessarily public.

nkelsch wrote:

 Amaya wrote:
Does GW have an ethics statement, code of ethics, or something similar avaible to the public? I'm currently looking for it and find it odd that an independent company does not have one.

Does Wizards of the coast have one? Does Privateer Press have one? Does Mantic Games have one? Does Reaper have one?

Google searches returned none that I could find for all these companies. So really? is this a legit thread or Troll thread?

If they have any, it is probably in their employee handbook and is not necessarily public.

He's doing a report for class:

 Amaya wrote:


If you could do that I'd really appreciate it. Have to do a paper on a company's ethics policies for my Business Ethics course and I'd like to do GW.

 Amaya wrote:
Does GW have an ethics statement, code of ethics, or something similar avaible to the public? I'm currently looking for it and find it odd that an independent company does not have one.

You might need to be more specific... Kronk linked you to what looks sort of like the mission statement.

In my experience, employees have a code of ethics to follow for their behavior, and all you get for the overall business is that mission statement.

The internal employee stuff you'd have to get from the employee manual or similar, prplhppo is your savior here, of course!

And yes, both mission statements and employee codes are generally really broad and don't really tell you anything. GWs thing combines mission with "about our company" to make it even worse.

I'd expect GWs mission to be something like, "We strive to make the best you soldiers in the world, hire and train the best people to introduce every child to our products, and year over year deliver steady and dependable value to our shareholders, all while protecting our intellectual property!"

For the employees, ethics statements are generally worded vaguely, but there may be some specific prohibited acts, such as social media conduct, etc.

I am curious Amaya. Do you believe that GW is doing something unethical? If so what is the unethical practice?

whill4 wrote:
I am curious Amaya. Do you believe that GW is doing something unethical? If so what is the unethical practice?

 Amaya wrote:
. Have to do a paper on a company's ethics policies for my Business Ethics course and I'd like to do GW.

Thanks Pretre. I read that but I am still curious.

@Amaya

Not trolling and it would be better to PM me if you choose to respond.

Well here is the old version of the 10 commandments of customer service:

1. Acknowledge all people that enter the shop
2. Be aware of the customers and their behaviour
3. Show enthusiasm and be cheerful
4. Be attentive and listen carefully to customer needs
5. Promote the hobby
6. Establish a rapport with the customer
7. Display an in-depth knowledge of company products
8. Maintian high standards of personal appearence and hygiene
9. Ask questions which obtain the best information concerning the customer needs
10. Show courtesy

Here's the old way to determine what kind of customer you are:
Initate - Total new person. Run them through and intro game and try and sell them a starter set.
Novice - Has a starter set, get them into Academy and show them different aspects of the hobby
Core - Has a good understanding of one system, push other systems on them
Vet - Has a good understanding of multiple systems, push towards bunker store.
Parent - They buy stuff for kids, get them to get a list together.
Danger - These are those ass clowns that come in and start **** ask them to leave, or call security

And attached is the hobby cone

It should be fairly standard practice for a company to have some form of explicit ethics policy especially in light of recent unethical practices. I think GW would be an interesting company to look at considering customer criticism and their recent legal issues. I was able to find policy statements for McDonalds, Activision Blizzard, and Walt Disney fairly easily.

Those three companies are worlds bigger than GW, however.

I think it is more of a reflection of GW being behind the times than them being a smaller company.

For very large businesses a code of ethics usually says something like:

All processes in our manufacturing process follow strict guidelines to prevent child labor (slave labor etc.) All materials in our products are from reusable resources etc.

They are the rules that a company follows that has the means to produce items at dirt cheap unethically but instead chooses to produce them slightly less dirt cheap with slightly less unethical standards.

Source: Business Analyst for 5+ years.

 Amaya wrote:
I think it is more of a reflection of GW being behind the times than them being a smaller company.

Did you find publicly accessible ethic statements for similar companies? Wizards, Privateer Press, Mantic, Pathfinder, etc?

My wife has worked for bigger and smaller companies than GW and they had ethics statements. Things like sourcing materials from sustainable sources and avoiding workforces based on exploitation, ie sweatshops.

I meant mostly the type of industry they are in. Gaming companies have some certain common cultural elements, I imagine.

 pretre wrote:

 Amaya wrote:
I think it is more of a reflection of GW being behind the times than them being a smaller company.

Did you find publicly accessible ethic statements for similar companies? Wizards, Privateer Press, Mantic, Pathfinder, etc?

Wizards is a subsidiary of Hasbro.

Can't find any ethics statements for similar companies. I find that odd.

 Amaya wrote:
Can't find any ethics statements for similar companies. I find that odd.

I think, as I said a minute ago, it is a byproduct of the type of people who run gaming companies. Not that they are unethical, but that they don't like to get bogged down in that kind of stuff. Also, they tend to be smaller companies who are unconcerned with these kind of bigger company problems.

 mattyrm wrote:
Is it odd though Amaya?

If I started a company, I wouldn't write a code of ethics, except perhaps an amusing limerick or sign behind the counter like they have in bars.

"Break it, Buy it"

Or something.. why would it be unusual not to have one?

I figured in our stable first world democracies most companies wouldn't have an actual code of ethics written down that they follow, they would just obey the laws in relevant countries, such as minimum wage and labour laws and such. Local legislation covers it all, its not like I would need to take the time to write my own code of ethics when its already covered anyway.

You might be surprised.

Large companies often have a lot of ethics embodied in various codes to do with recruitment, workplace practices, register of interests, anti-bribery, treatment of customers' data, and so on. Obviously this is to help comply with relevant laws, however ethics actually is taught in business management degrees and we do actually think about it and try to do the right thing, sometimes anticipating legislation.

I think it's more the sort of thing that just don't occur to companies like that, to be honest.

the most you'd see is, "we don't use lead... anymore."

 Compel wrote:
I think it's more the sort of thing that just don't occur to companies like that, to be honest.

the most you'd see is, "we don't use lead... anymore."

Yeah, I think it's possibly more along those lines...which in itself is an issue. Business ethics has been an issue for a while and it has become increasingly important. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of these wargaming/miniatures companies are extremely detatched from fairly standard business practices.

 Amaya wrote:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of these wargaming/miniatures companies are extremely detatched from fairly standard business practices.

I think that this is exactly the case.

 Amaya wrote:

 pretre wrote:

 Amaya wrote:
I think it is more of a reflection of GW being behind the times than them being a smaller company.

Did you find publicly accessible ethic statements for similar companies? Wizards, Privateer Press, Mantic, Pathfinder, etc?

Wizards is a subsidiary of Hasbro.

Can't find any ethics statements for similar companies. I find that odd.

It's not really that odd. Some companies have ethical standards and some don't.

If an ethical policy is a driving force behind a business, it may have commitment to to standards other than those laid down by law.

A publicly available ethical statement is usually created and followed by those who are aware of the publics/buyers/suppliers perceptions and motives.

For GW I imagine that they can't see a reason for a a code of ethics in the business they are in. They have laws they must follow and HSE procedures to adhere to etc.

They may not be using lead but they use a load of nasty petrochemical based products.