Code of Conduct: NAB

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Governance, Ethics and Sustainability

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Overview of the Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct of National Australia Bank (NAB) shows the company’s commitment
towards responsibility and ethics. As per this code, the company focuses on ensuring that
people who represented NAB – whether they include employees, manager, contractors or
board of directors – embrace the spirit of this code while maintaining integrity, honesty and
professionalism (NAB, 2019). Through this code, the company focuses on giving priority to
the interest of its customers and also taking decisions while putting their interest above
anything else.
Following are the key principles of this code which defines how NAB conducts itself, and it
also shows the commitment of the company towards its stakeholders.
A: Discrimination
In human social behaviour, discrimination is defined as the treatment of a person based on
the category, group or class to which the person belongs. It means unfair treatment of a
person or a group of people based on the difference of their age, caste, race, colour,
religion, ethnic origin, sexual preference, gender, disability or others (Volpone and Avery,
2013). There are strict measures taken by NAB in order to prohibit discrimination from the
organisation. The code focuses on guiding the actions of managers and employees to make
sure that they did not discriminate others inside or outside the workplace. Same principles
apply when they deal with customers to make sure that they did not give unfair advantage
or detriment to a customer based on their characteristics. Along with the provisions given
under this code, the company also focuses on complying with a range of legislative
provisions which are implemented by the Australian government. These provisions include
the Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth), Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), Racial
Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) and Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (Powell and Sang,
2013).
The provisions of these acts are incorporated with the Code of Conduct of the company to
eliminate any conflict in order to promote fairness and equality in the workplace. In order to
achieve the goal of promotion of diversity in the workplace and the elimination of
discrimination, various practices are implemented by NAB.

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1. The human resource department cannot design job structure based on specific
characteristics of people
2. Employees are promoted to higher positions based on their performance
3. During the employee selection process, a fair criterion has applied that focus on the
qualifications and capabilities of candidates rather than their personal characteristics
4. Implementation of diversity and inclusion policy in the workplace to create a positive
working environment for everyone (NAB, 2018)
Furthermore, the company has also taken steps towards implementation of anti-
discrimination policy in the workplace. This policy focuses on recognising human rights and
ensuring that people have a platform where they can report any incidents in case their basic
rights are breached (NAB, 2018). In case employees face discrimination in the workplace,
they can report to higher authorities. In case they are discriminated by higher authorities,
then they can report to the ethics committee or external authorities to make sure that
appropriate actions are taken to eliminate similar practices in the future.
B: Exploitation
Exploitation is referred to the act of treating someone in an unfair manner in order to
benefit from their work. The exploitation of employees is defined as unfair treatment of
workers for their own benefit (Sok and O’Cass, 2015). This is a major issue, and NAB has
implemented policies in its Code of Conduct that is targeted towards the protection of
employees from exploitation. The low level employees are at the risk of exploitation from
the top level management since they can abuse their powers to unfair treat employees for
their personal benefit or benefit of third parties. Since employees are a key stakeholder of
NAB, the company has taken strict actions to prohibit exploitation in the workplace by
forming specific guidelines.
1. Employees cannot be formed by the top level managers to work on public holidays.
2. The human resource department or any other department cannot hold the salary of
employees for any reason
3. Sexual harassment is strictly prohibited in the workplace
4. The managers are expected to put the interest of employees above profit
maximisation (Boehm, 2012)