Compliance training is imperative for any organization, as it strives to keep an organization and all its employees safe and secure from physical, psychological, and legal harm. But, let’s face it: Sometimes, compliance training is just boring or hokey. And it can be hard to make it stick with your employees long term.
Here are five best practices for getting your compliance training to stick with your employees.
1. Focus on Your Company’s Culture and Top-Down Change
First and foremost, it’s important that leaders across your organization abide by policies, rules, and regulations addressed in your compliance training. If they don’t abide, they won’t encourage your employees to abide and the compliance training will not stick with anyone inside your organization.
And when developing your compliance training materials, consider the overall culture of your company or the culture you’re trying to accentuate across your organization.
For example, if you’re including information on a zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy, also include information regarding how leaders can be more inclusive to all genders, avoid unconscious bias, etc.
And then encourage those same leaders to advocate for zero-tolerance first before expecting their employees to do so on their own. Change, a company’s culture, and compliance always start at the top in an organization.
2. Encourage Everyday Accountability
Encouraging your employees to hold themselves and their peers accountable on an everyday basis will also ensure compliance training sticks. Consider assigning safety partners (who serve as spotters) for employees who operate heavy machinery or work in hazardous conditions.
This way, one employee can point out to another employee when she or he is doing something unsafe. You can also consider having an anonymous reporting system in which employees are encouraged to report lewd or inappropriate behavior they witness in the workplace so that instances of harassment of all types are dwindled and culprits are held accountable.
3. Consider Unconscious Bias Training First
Sometimes, employees will need to undergo unconscious bias training before certain compliance training material sticks with them. For instance, some men may not be aware of occasions when they’re harassing a woman or treating her unfairly, and a lot of employees may not be aware of their unconscious bias toward people of a different racial or ethnic background.
But after undergoing unconscious bias training, employees will be more aware of what elements of compliance training apply to them and everyone else and will likely be much more receptive to holding themselves accountable.
4. Assess Data and Analytics to Verify a Compliance Training’s Effectiveness
If your compliance training is truly sticking with your employees, you’ll be able to uncover data and analytics that prove its effectiveness. For instance, if you conduct compliance training for how to safely handle dangerous equipment, you’ll know it’s sticking with your employees when fewer injuries are reported.
5. Make It Engaging and Interesting
While compliance training broaches important and serious topics, you should still make it interesting and engaging. You can conduct it via simulated or gamified environments, for instance. And you can ask questions and take anonymous polls throughout each training module to learn more about what type of content resonates the most with your learners.
Follow the five best practices above to ensure your compliance training truly sticks with your employees.