HIW CRR 2022 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 45
ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
We are committed to corporate governance practices
that promote honesty, accountability, transparency,
integrity and an ethical work environment. Our board
believes that setting the tone at the top with a strong
governance structure is critical to our long-term success.
We are guided by Corporate Governance Guidelines and
a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to all
directors, officers and coworkers. Similarly, all vendors
are required to comply with our Vendor Code of Conduct.
To ensure greater transparency and preserve the trust of
our stakeholders, our governance guidelines and codes
are disclosed in the “Investors/Governance” section of
our website.
Highwoods has a zero-tolerance policy for activities
that violate any laws or regulations, including those
covering bribery, copyrights, information privacy,
political contributions, insider trading, occupational
health and safety, discrimination and harassment.
Employees are prohibited from offering, promising,
or providing anything of value to any person for the
purpose of influencing that person to assist Highwoods
in obtaining an improper business advantage.
All corporations, including Highwoods, are prohibited
from directly or indirectly making any kind of cash or
in-kind contribution to candidates for federal office
and, in many areas in which we operate, state or local
office. Corporate donations to any candidate for public
office may only be made with the prior approval of our
General Counsel and only to the extent permitted by
and in strict compliance with applicable law.
As a condition of employment, we require all coworkers
to understand and fully comply with our Code of
Business Conduct and Ethics and complete an annual
conflict of interest questionnaire, which is then
reviewed with the Compensation and Governance
Committee of our Board of Directors. All coworkers
receive regular training on ethics-related topics to
ensure that our company adheres to the highest
ethical standards. We have an open-door policy
to encourage our coworkers to disclose any issues
concerning regulatory compliance, accounting, audit
or internal control issues, and we maintain an ethics
hotline via ethicspoint.com for anonymous disclosures.
All reported ethical concerns are promptly reviewed
and addressed by our legal team and, if applicable, a
committee of our Board of Directors.
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