In 2017, Finance established an ethics hotline to help employees protect GUC’s reputation and uphold its values. Recently, a few enhancements were made, including a name change. The hotline is being reintroduced as the GUC Ethics Helpline to reinforce the concept that together we can protect our values. 

The togetherness approach focuses on how working together as a team, people can accomplish remarkable things. Take, for example, a goal often referred to as “success.” Our reputation as an honest, fair, and respectful organization within the community is crucial to our success, and it can only be assured by our employees who place personal integrity and ethical behavior high on their list of priorities. 

The GUC Ethics Helpline is part of an overall system of internal controls to help protect employees as well as GUC’s reputation and assets. The Helpline enables employees to anonymously report fraud, theft, financial irregularities, violation of laws, policies, or procedures, and any other type of unethical behaviors through one of two ways - by phone or online. Both the phone and online resources are managed by a third party.   

An employee can either call the Helpline number (1-844-556-9150), or they can submit a report through the website at guc.ethicspoint.com. Either method is confidential and easy to use.   

Required Courses 
In addition to the reintroduction of the GUC Ethics Helpline, two required courses are being added to our annual training program for all employees - Financial Integrity and Conflict of Interest. Each course runs approximately 20 minutes and is interactive, encouraging participants to make the best ethical decision when faced with an unethical dilemma. The final part of the second course also goes over GUC’s Conflict of Interest Policy. 

An email about these courses was sent out to All Users on June 9th by Sandy Dail, Accountant Auditor IV. For any questions regarding the courses, contact Sandy at 551-1476 or dailsh@guc.com. 

“Your role on our team is to speak up if you know of or suspect any unethical behavior, and our role is to listen,” said Chief Financial Officer Jeff McCauley. “Together, we can ensure GUC maintains its outstanding reputation in the community and that our team continues to be successful in safely providing reliable utility solutions at the lowest reasonable cost, with exceptional customer service in an environmentally responsible manner.” 

Greenville Utilities has a Non-Retaliation Policy which ensures employees cannot be harassed, disciplined, or terminated for reporting ethics violations in good faith. You can find a copy of this in the Policy section of the Finance page on SharePoint.