As the chief ethics officer at San Francisco-based Airbnb Inc., Robert Chesnut oversees a team of 30 ethics advisers who are spread out within the company. His theory is that if ethics is controlled by one person or one department, employees are less likely to bring up ethical issues or questions.

“If ethics is something that is owned by legal or human resources, people get intimidated. If you have someone who is on your team who is in charge of ethics you’re a lot more likely to have that conversation,” Chesnut said.