A Review of Best-in-Class Practices
The Evaluation Framework
At the heart of the evaluation and selection process for the World’s Most Ethical Companies® is Ethisphere’s proprietary rating system, the corporate Ethics Quotient (EQ). The EQ framework features more than 200 multiple-choice and text questions that capture a company’s performance in an objective, consistent, and standardized way.
All applicants receive their overall EQ score and scores in all five categories as compared against the honorees.


Wondering How You Compare? Check out These Resources
Ongoing Benefits of the Application Process
The Application – A Great Way to Align to Best Practices
Applicants find it incredibly valuable for assessing program strengths and for working toward building a world-class approach.
“I think the one of the great things about [The World’s Most Ethical Companies] is that the process of applying makes you a better company.” – Halsey Cook, CEO, Milliken & Company
“To me, the real value of [The World’s Most Ethical Companies] is the journey that we go through on an annual basis, where we take previous benchmark information, compare ourselves to it, and ask ourselves, what do we want to do differently? What do we want to do next?” – Patricia Thompson, AVP Compliance, Deputy Chief Compliance Officer, Pacific Life
The Scorecard – Benchmarking Against the Best
All applicants receive their overall score and scores in all five categories compared against the 2023 Honorees. The personalized document shares comparative scores, along with context, exclusive trends insights and links to related resources.