Wyndham Worldwide Named as One of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the 4th Time

PARSIPPANY, N.J., March 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of its commitment to ethical and responsible business practices in the more than 100 countries where it operates, Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) has once again been recognized as a 2016 World's Most Ethical Company® by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This is the second consecutive year and fourth time overall that the Company has received the designation since Ethisphere first began recognizing companies in 2007.

"Wyndham Worldwide has always been a values-driven organization, committed to growing our business in a responsible way that our associates, partners and shareholders can be proud of," said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and chief executive officer, Wyndham Worldwide. "This distinction recognizes a shared focus and collaborative effort by individuals and teams at all levels of our company, from our Board of Directors to each of our associates."

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ethisphere and the World's Most Ethical Companies designation which recognizes those companies who align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust part of their corporate DNA, and in doing so, shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow's best practices today.

"People and hospitality are at the heart of what we do, and ethical behavior is the lens through which we make decisions and anchor our commitment to each other, our partners, our customers, and our communities," said Scott McLester, executive vice president and general counsel, Wyndham Worldwide. "We are an industry leader due in part to our commitment to our values, ethical leadership, and drive to be a good corporate citizen." 

Rooted in its Count On Me! service philosophy, integrity and accountability are embedded in the Company's culture.  Maintaining a strong focus on compliance and ethical practices is part of its robust corporate social responsibility commitment. Some of the Company's activities and accomplishments include:  

• Establishing a global network of Compliance Champions, leaders from across the company that provide guidance for associates on acceptable standards of business conduct and the importance of complying with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, policies and procedures;
• Providing workforce training, skills and leadership development programs through different mediums to embed compliant and ethical decision making into everyday business;
• Maintaining a Global Diversity Council made up of leaders from across the Company, which shapes the diversity strategy and provides strategic direction to our businesses;
• Achieving our goal to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 – six years ahead of schedule – and establishing a new goal to reduce carbon and water usage by 25% by 2025;
• Utilizing our associate-led Global Wellness Council to expand wellness initiatives across the Company resulting in healthy associates that leads to a healthy bottom line.

"Compliance is everyone's responsibility and we are proud that programs we've put in place, such as our Compliance Champions, provide our associates with the tools and resources to maintain ethical standards embodying our culture of ethics," added Korin Neff, senior vice president and corporate compliance officer. "We've achieved this through the hard work and dedication of our global associates and their commitment to ethics and compliance."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics

Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way.

The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and are provided to all companies who participate in the process.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine and The World's Most Ethical Companies Executive Briefing. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs. More information about Ethisphere can be found at http://ethisphere.com

About Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

One of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) provides a wide range of hospitality services and products through its global portfolio of world-renowned brands.  The world's largest hotel company based on the number of properties, Wyndham Hotel Group is home to many of the world's best-known hotel brands, with over 7,800 franchised hotels and 678,000 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Destination Network is the world's largest provider of professionally managed, unique vacation accommodations with more than 112,000 vacation properties in over 100 countries, sending more than 13 million people annually to their desired destinations through its trusted, diverse network of brands. The industry and timeshare ownership market leader, Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 210 vacation ownership resorts serving approximately 897,000 owners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Based in Parsippany, NJ, Wyndham Worldwide employs approximately 38,000 associates globally. For more information, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.

SOURCE Wyndham Worldwide

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