Ethical and Socially Responsive Business

Chipotle Restaurant first opened its door in 1993 (www.chipotle.com) in Denver Colorado by Steve Ells. There are currently 1600 franchised restaurants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom specializing in burritos and tacos. Careers range from accounting and management, information technology, cashiers and cooks.
The success of any business, particularly the restaurant industry relies heavily on its code of ethics. Chipotle has an “open door” policy of which any of its employees who feel that any of its code of conducts is being violated are free to partake in. As the CEO of Chipotle, there are several key areas in Chipotle’s code of conduct significant to its success. Chipotle will do its best to protect the privacy of its employees who decide to partake in its open door policy. Some of those key areas relating to Chipotle’s code of conduct include:
1. Anti-Discrimination Policy- Chipotle believes that all of its employees should be treated with respect regardless to race, religion, national origin, disability, origin, gender, marital status or sexual orientation (ir.chipotle.com). The also applies to its hiring practices, as well as pay, performance reviews, training advancements and the ability to advance.
2. Sexual Harassment Policy- Chipotle strictly prohibits such behaviors posed upon any of its employees, male or female. Sexual harassment encourages intimidation and could lead to abuse of power. Chipotle defines sexual harassment as unwelcomed sexual advantages, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal and nonverbal conducts sexual in nature. Examples of this type of behavior include verbal comments regarding physical body parts and jokes that are verbally offensive.
3. Discrimination Policy- Chipotle stands firm this policy and includes discrimination of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, and any other discrimination practice and like the anti-discrimination, applies to its hiring practice, pay, performance reviews, training and the ability to advance (ir.chipotle.com).
It is every employee’s responsibility at Chipotles to ensure that each code of ethics is being carried out and any such violation must be reported. Every employee is expected to use good judgment and act reasonable and responsible and avoid potential conflicts that may interfere with the day to business of Chipotle. However, it is the responsibility of those in management to enforce the rules. As soon as management sees for them self or receives confidential information regarding any ethical violation, management should immediately respond to that violation by informing their immediate supervisor/ director. Behaviors such as sexual harassment and discrimination may be grounds for immediate dismissal. Chipotle will also take actions against management that fail to recognize any ethical violation upon its employees.
There are several ways Chipotle can engage in socially responsible behavior within the communities they operate. This can be achieved by donating a portion of their profits to the communities they operate out of. An example would be Chipotle pledging to donate a percentage of all orders for carne burritos to the local community center. Chipotle can also help the communities they operate out of by offering each employee paid time off for agreeing to volunteer for specific tasks performed throughout the community. An example of employee volunteerism is offering all employees two hours paid time off per quarter for volunteering to assist with the grounds maintenance at the local elementary schools. Lastly, but not least is through the offer of employee incentives. Employees can receive bonuses for meetings the company’s goal for reducing energy costs for the quarter.

References: http://ir.chipotle.com/phoenix.zhtml www.chipotle.com/en-us/company/about_us.aspx