It’s nearly that time of year again — Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week! And we know that a big event — or series of events — like that doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of sweat equity from compliance and ethics professionals. And we know that sometimes other priorities get in the way of having adequate time to plan for a week of activities, promotions, and information highlighting compliance.

So we’re here to help! No matter where you’re at in planning for your compliance and ethics week — even if you haven’t started yet — we’ve got some ideas for you. And this year, we’ve built two ready-to-launch video series that can be used off-the-shelf or customized for your organization.

(What is Compliance and Ethics Week, you’re wondering? Since 2005, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) has designated a week to highlight the importance of compliance and ethics. In 2026, Corporate Compliance& Ethics Week is November 1–7. Many organizations also designate their own compliance and ethics week, not necessarily in November.)

We are excited to share practical ideas to strengthen your program and elevate your visibility and impact in just one week!

Start With a Goal

We always advise our clients to “begin at the end,” especially those enhancing their compliance curriculum with communication initiatives. “Begin at the end” means defining a clear goal you want to accomplish by the end of this campaign.

How do you find your “begin at the end”? Start by asking the right questions:

  • What new challenges have emerged this year? (AI, anyone?)
  • Which risks, policies, or regulations are having the most significant impact on your organization?
  • What is the single most important thing you want employees to understand about compliance?

Select one idea and concentrate your efforts there. Executing one well-crafted message can significantly raise awareness.

This year, we’ve created two video series for use during Compliance and Ethics Week:

  • Real Cases. Real Guidance. shows employees that the Code applies to everyday decisions, using five headline-making cases. ‍
  • Why Integrity Matters shows how good people make bad decisions through the story of one person told over five days.

Both series close on the same message: ask questions and speak up when something doesn’t seem right. That’s specific, relevant to every role, and reusable long after November.

Evaluate Your Resources

When planning, it’s important to consider your time, budget, materials, and skills. Ask yourself, realistically: What can you and your team accomplish in a month? When short on time, we advise clients to focus on what they do well and lean into that. It’s much better to support current initiatives than try to do something too big and overextend your team.

That’s why both of our 2026 series are built as a simple daily rhythm: one short video, a few lines of context, and one reflection question each day, Monday through Friday. Each message ends with a teaser for tomorrow to encourage employees to come back.

Real Cases. Real Guidance. This series lets you choose one risk area to focus on each day, drawing from a library of real cases, each lasting 2 to 3 minutes. Examples include:

  • ‍Conflicts of interest: how a respected consulting firm ended up on both sides of the same issue, and why failing to disclose it cost $650million‍
  • Acceptable use: how unapproved messaging apps led to one of the largest recordkeeping failures in U.S. history‍
  • Intellectual property: what happened when an engineer assumed he could take his work with him‍
  • Antitrust: how 1970s construction companies secretly divided up highway contracts‍
  • Artificial intelligence: how scammers used deepfakes of senior colleagues to convince a finance employee to transfer $25 million

Why Integrity Matters follows Kirsten Liston’s conversation with Sean Mueller, who built a hedge fund managing more than $100 million and then ran one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Colorado history. He served 14 years of a 40-year sentence and paid $74 million in restitution. A Friday teaser kicks things off, then five episodes trace his path: The Guy Who Didn’t Lose Money, Managing the Win, Under Pressure, Guardrails, and Lessons Learned.

But really, Sean’s story isn’t about hedge funds, and that’s what makes it land with every employee. Everyone has a scoreboard at work, whether it’s a sales target, a deadline, or a reputation as the person who always delivers. Sean shows how that pressure, the rationalization, and the fear can quietly add up to choices you never imagined making.

Every message comes in two formats: an all-employee email and a post for your internal community platform. Pick the channel your employees actually read, and reinforce your existing materials and the curriculum already planned.

Gain Support From Leadership

We know you’re on a tight timeline here, and getting in front of leaders can be difficult. However, gaining exposure and support from top leaders can significantly enhance your visibility. Remember your partnerships here —compliance professionals excel at building connections throughout the organization.

That’s why everything written for both series is fully customizable. Adapt the messages to your culture and send them from whichever leader your employees will listen to most: your CEO, your head of compliance, or another member of leadership. The ask is small: lend their name to five short messages that are already drafted. Could your internal communications partners schedule the posts? Could your CCO reply to comments on the reflection questions? A leader asking “Who are you when no one’s watching?” lands differently than the same question from a training module.

Preparing for your Compliance and Ethics Week may seem daunting, with only a couple of weeks to go. Still, you can significantly enhance your compliance program’s visibility and effectiveness by focusing on achievable goals, leveraging existing resources, and concentrating on impactful messaging.

Remember that small, well-executed initiatives can have a lasting impact. Start with a clear goal, evaluate your resources realistically, and seek the backing of your organization’s leaders to make this compliance and ethics week a meaningful and successful campaign.

Ethics & Compliance Jeopardy: Test What Your Team Knows

Looking for something different, and still engaging, for Ethics & Compliance Week? Try our NEW Jeopardy-style game. It tests knowledge across the full range of ethics and compliance, from key compliance terms and recent ethics failures in the news to well-known quotes about business integrity and real-world ethical decision-making.

The Library version of the game has four categories, Money Matters, Good Judgment, Quotable, and People First, each with four levels of difficulty. But every category and question can be customized, so you can tailor the game to your organization’s policies, values, and risk areas.

Whether it opens your Ethics & Compliance Week, closes it out, or anchors the whole program, the game gives employees a memorable way to engage with the topics that matter most!

Further Reading

Want more information? Check out these resources from communications and compliance leaders across Rethink:

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Ideas and Inspiration

At Rethink, we’re all about collaboration. Here are some ideas to help your last-minute planning.

The SCCE has a free toolkit updated for 2026, with a poster, trivia questions, email banners, and more. And remember, our team is ready to help you, too — including with RealCases. Real Guidance., and Why Integrity Matters.

Further Reading

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