Few things elicit a yawn more easily than the mention of workplace compliance programs. And yet, compliance training is increasingly important in today’s workplaces. As laws and regulations increase in number and complexity, companies are finding that more and more employees are put in positions where their job functions can expose the organization to civil, regulatory, or even criminal liability.
Lead by Example
Compliance is very much a top-down function. Frontline employees are going to be much more likely to voluntarily exhibit compliant behavior if they see their managers—all the way up to senior management and the C-suite—doing the same. They will be much more willing to comply with mandatory compliant behavior if they feel the rules apply to everyone equally.
Set Goals
Setting goals is important in any initiative, but for compliance, it can be particularly crucial. This is because compliance initiatives should be driven by the need to comply with specific rules and guidelines, meaning they lend themselves to greater structure than goals like “increase customer engagement” or “improve brand image.”
A goal could be anything from completing a formal audit verifying compliance with certain standards to having zero accidents over a certain time frame.
Utilize Best Practices
Once you know what your goals are, look at industry best practices to achieve those goals. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. This is especially true with industry-wide rules and regulations. Many, many companies are, and have been, working to maintain the same kind of compliance as your organization. Take advantage of their experience and expertise to learn what has gone well and what hasn’t gone so well.
Verify Results
Implementing new practices can only be fully effective if accompanied by sufficient verification. Without a reasonable and effective way to verify the results of your efforts, you can never know if you’ve been effective or if you’ve just been wasting your time.
Compliance has never been the most exciting subject, but it has become increasingly important in recent years. And compliance is no longer a subject appropriate for just a handful of executives and specialized job roles and functions.
Virtually any employee in any role could expose the company to liability for violation of a law, rule, or regulation. That’s why establishing an effective compliance regime is so crucial.