No matter what industry you work in, Australian employers are responsible for providing staff with a safe workplace, free from hazards and health risks. If you run a company or organisation, it’s important that your business is compliant with current workplace safety laws and regulations, to promote a safer workplace and ensure the safety and wellbeing of your employees.

Failing to comply with health and safety regulations can not only put your staff at risk, but can also result in severe financial implications, as well as damage to your company’s reputation.

An example of this can be seen in a recent case where Essential Energy was convicted and fined $300,000 following the death of an electrical worker at Bulahdelah, NSW.

Essential Energy receive fines for employee’s death

Earlier this year, SafeWork NSW, the state’s workplace health and safety regulator, charged Essential Energy with a breach of section 32 (1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW), for failing to comply with its duty under section 19(1) to ensure the health and safety of workers.

A company employee, aged 47, was fatally electrocuted while carrying out his work, in an incident which “could easily have been prevented” according to Executive Director of SafeWork NSW, Peter Dunphy. 

During SafeWork NSW’s investigation, it was found that Essential Energy was aware of the risk of keeping the top conductors energised while workers removed the bottom conductors, however the company chose to keep them energised for service delivery reasons. This led to the staff member being electrocuted, resulting in his death.

Invest in workplace safety training for all staff

Tragic incidents, such as the one above, should and could have been avoided. Many workplace accidents, injuries and fatalities can be easily prevented with proper compliance methods and an appropriate investment in workplace safety training.

Considering the potential loss in productivity, legal expenses, fines and insurance arising from a workplace incident, workplace safety training is well worth the investment.

With WH&S compliance training, you can increase staff awareness of potential hazards in the work environment, as well as educating individuals on correct reporting procedures and policies. 

Through the use of workshops, online courses and e-learning training modules, you can make sure staff are properly engaged in workplace health and safety, while reducing the risk of accidents, injuries and hazards for your organisation.

If you’re an employer looking to invest in workplace safety training, Go1 SafeWork can make this process a whole lot easier for you and your staff.

We have compiled a course package containing some of the top workplace health and safety courses available through e3Learning, to make it easy for businesses to improve their workplace.

You can make your training process quick and easy with this convenient package containing 3 online safety courses that every Australian business needs – and best of all, this package is available completely free.

Covering a range of topics, the Go1 SafeWork package provides the training that you need to get your team up to scratch and help improve workplace health and safety for your organisation.

Through this package, you’ll be able to educate your team on the following important WH&S topics:

By making the safety of your workplace a top priority, you’ll be showing your commitment to the safety and wellbeing of your employees. You’ll also have peace of mind knowing that your business is compliant with Australian laws and regulations.

As Peter Dunphy, Executive Director of SafeWork NSW, said when discussing the Essential Energy tragedy, “every worker should return home to their family at the end of the working day.” Enrol in Go1 SafeWork’s free online courses and get started on creating a safer workplace for your staff.

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Why workplace safety training is essential for your business

Investing in compliance training online is one of the key steps we recommended recently for building a better compliance program for your business.

If you’re looking to update and improve the compliance processes within your organization, moving your training online is a great place to start.

Taking this step has a number of benefits for both your employees and your bottom line, saving you time and money while making the process easier and more engaging for staff. Let’s look at these benefits in more depth.

Save time and money on compliance training

As we’ve said before, compliance is a combination of time and money – it doesn’t work without an appropriate investment of both of these factors. And you no doubt want to get the best possible return on that investment.

Carrying out compliance training online reduces the amount of time your employees spend in the training room, and for most organizations we know that time equals money. With e-learning, particularly if you’re a large organization, or have staff across various locations or working remotely, online training will save you a significant amount of money compared to face-to-face training by an instructor, as well as travel fees, venue hire and printing costs.

In fact, using a good Learning Management System for online training can reduce training expenses by more than 50%. Moving your compliance training online can also reduce the risk of your organization receiving penalty fees or fines, saving you further money in the long run.

Make compliance training easier for your staff

These days, online training courses are available for all areas of compliance, making training incredibly easy, convenient and effective for your staff.

With e-learning, employees can log in to their relevant training courses or modules from anywhere in the world, from the convenience of their home or office. Staff won’t need to attend all-day training lectures, meaning they can keep their focus on their work responsibilities and maintain their productivity without interruption, until choosing to log in.

While you can easily train all staff, right across the board, from an online portal, you can also customize each individual’s training materials, making it a more personalized and worthwhile experience for each user.

As a recent article by Game Effective says, with online compliance training, “employees know that they are getting relevant information that pertains to their position, and that increases the value of the compliance online training experience.”

Improve employee engagement with compliance 

You’ll also be providing staff with a far more engaging user experience by moving your compliance training online.

Instead of having team members attend long-winded lectures on compliance issues, employees will have access to targeted online training activities and modules based on their job duties. As a result, they’ll be more motivated to learn and actively participate in training on these subjects.

People also retain more information when the subject matter is made more engaging, making e-learning more effective than the traditional modes of delivering compliance training, such as workbooks, assessments and training room scenarios.

Using up-to-date training modes and interesting, relevant course content is beneficial for your company’s organizational culture, particularly with new hires who have just started and are going through compliance training as part of their onboarding or orientation.

Use an LMS to deliver your compliance training

Using a Learning Management System such as Go1's online training platform to create and deliver your compliance training gives you access to customizable reporting, engagement tools and analytics.

This allows you to easily track staff progress, see how each team member is going with the content and whether they may need additional direction, assistance or further resources. You can even use your own compliance content with the Go1 platform, creating a fully customized program for your employees.

Maintaining and updating compliance training content is also simple, as administrators can simply log in to their online compliance program, make any necessary modifications or changes to the course materials, then deploy the updated compliance training to all staff, in all locations.

To find out more about compliance, before moving your training program online, you might also like to read through our previous articles on this subject:

Why You Need to Spend Time and Money on Compliance

Get Started on Better Compliance for Your Business

Benefits of moving your compliance training online

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a nightmare for some and a blessing for others. For businesses, especially the human resources departments, understanding all of the new changes and compliance regulations can be quite a challenge. Failure to comply will mean large fines for companies—even if a company doesn’t realize it isn’t complying accurately.

“There’s nothing like getting a little experience under your belt, especially when it comes to complying with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But experience in this area is hard to come by,” said Natalie Burg of Forbes, in ‘What Small And Large Organizations Alike Can Learn From The First Year Of Annual ACA’.

The ACA is not only a landmarked health reform, it’s also unchartered territory for businesses when it comes to legal compliance and all that is involved.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “The landmark health reform legislation enacted in March 2010 is designed to expand the availability of health insurance, reform the regulation of health coverage and restructure its delivery.”

ACA calls for expansion in health care coverages such as:

Employers that employ 50 or more employees are required to offer affordable and essential health care coverage to their full-time employees (employees that work 30 hours a week or more)

Provisions for insurance premium subsidies for certain low- and middle-income households (SHRM)

A mandate that individuals without health insurance through an employer or other source, such as Medicare, purchase it on their own or pay a penalty for not doing so (SHRM)

Establishment of state-based insurance exchanges—marketplaces where individuals can shop for and purchase health insurance (SHRM)

“The law also prohibits lifetime limits on coverage and arbitrary cancellations of coverage, and it requires that nondependent children up to age 26 be permitted to stay on a parent’s health policy,” said SHRM.

It took many companies and business owners by surprise when the ACA was challenged, yet found constitutional by the courts. “For most human resources and employee benefits professionals across all sized companies, the constitutional validation of the ACA by the Supreme Court was unexpected,” said ADA Research Institute. No more than 10 percent of professionals surveyed were expecting the Supreme Court to uphold the entire law. Consequently, companies may be behind in their ACA preparations.”

“It’s never been more important for employers to have clearly defined worker classifications. Incorrectly defining employees, contract workers and temporary workers has big consequences under ACA — especially this year,” Burg from Forbes said.

Employee classification may be one of the largest areas of confusion. If a company employs 50 or more employees, it is mandated to provide medical health insurance to its full-time employees. However, this can get tricky as HR reviews the employee list and may discount contract employees or others that may have worked more than 30 hours in a week.

Calculating whether an organization is subject to the employer mandate should be done monthly, and a record of such calculations should be maintained. Here are the steps:

First, calculate the number of full-time employees—those who are regularly scheduled to work an average of 30 or more hours per week.

Next, calculate the total number of hours worked during the month by employees who are not full time, and divide the total by 120. The result (rounded down) is the number of FTEs represented by the hours worked by the organization’s non-full-time employees.

Last, add the number of full-time employees and the number of FTE employees represented by non-full-time employees. The result is the organization’s total FTE employees.

Collecting and maintaining the correct data is another challenge area. ACA requires specific tax forms and other data to be turned in on a regular basis. The system is new and there are bound to be mistakes; however, it could take up to – and even beyond – 18 months after filing taxes for a company to be notified of a mistake.

“Simply put, don’t trust that your methods were perfect the first time around,” Burg said. The fact that you haven’t heard anything to the contrary yet doesn’t mean anything.”

It is recommended to check and recheck the data yearly for any mistakes or discrepancies. It is also a good idea for periodic checks and updates because of employee turnovers and changes of status.

“That shows good-faith effort to be compliant,” said John Haslinger, vice president of strategic advisory services for ADP. “Otherwise, you’ll probably do the same thing wrong for 2016, 2017 and into 2018. You could be looking at a multi-year penalty.”

Notifications to employees. The HR department will be responsible for letting employees (current and new) know about health care options, as well as marketplace insurance and how to obtain it.

Summary of costs. While most companies provide a basic (or even detailed) booklet on costs for the different health care plans offered, with ACA there are even more plans and costs for employees to choose from, making it more time consuming and even confusing for both employees and employers.

IRS filing. ACA requires more data and tax forms to be filed, which means more work for HR departments. It may also require specialized training to make sure everything is done correctly to avoid costly fines.

“The ACA is a work in progress, and it’s going to keep changing,” said Burg. “To stay compliant, employers should be as “To stay compliant, employers should be as To stay compliant, employers should be as  vigilant about watching for forthcoming changes as they are about tracking their important employee data.”

How the Affordable Care Act has affected legal compliance

Legal workplace compliance issues have become a “hot topic” for companies today. Sure, conflicts come up in any work environment and that’s part of the cost of doing business. You have so many different personalities, roles, and expectations that it’s simply impossible for things to be “smooth sailing” all the time.

However, some employees cross the boundary between conflict and compliance—and when this happens you need an effective strategy for addressing the problem before it gets out of hand. Just as the working world is evolving at a breakneck pace, so are the compliance issues we are facing today.

Decreased productivity from your employees. This is generally due to anxiety, feelings of helplessness, or preoccupation with the discrimination that is taking place.

Disgruntled employees and a rise in conflict-based incidents. Discrimination can lead to frustration, anger, and annoyance between co-workers and this can cause disruptive arguments and fights in the workplace.

Financial issues for your employees and your overall business. When an employee is facing discrimination they are not able to carry out their job to the best of their abilities. This can cost a business their two most valuable resources: time and money (and that’s before legal gets involved!)

Costly legal issues which may be ongoing as a result of a filed discrimination charge or against the company for not taking action. Legal problems can shut down any business, and discrimination is a very common source of legal issues in the workplace today.

Sexual harassment is absolutely illegal and should never be tolerated in the workplace, regardless of gender. However, the unfortunate reality is that we are still seeing a rise in sexual harassment in many states today.

Physical and verbal harassment of a sexual nature

Sexual harassment is a proven path to creating a hostile work environment and that’s why the best companies spend time educating their employees on the topic.

Keep in mind that harassment can come from anyone involved with the company, not just employees. For example, harassment can come from:

Workplace bullying is another issue affecting businesses all over the nation. According to Dr. Gary Namie, the National Director of The Healthy Workplace Bill, workplace bullying is on the rise and becoming a huge concern for businesses and employees.

When a person is being bullied at work you might notice:

An increase in work absence due to health issues.

Reduced productivity due to feelings of depression and hopelessness.

Social anxiety and irritability that prevents them from interacting with supervisors and coworkers.

What can you do about workplace bullying? 

One of the best ways to address this issue is to enforce a zero workplace bullying policy. This policy should be read and signed by all employees and workers in the company to ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them.

When implementing a policy like this, it’s important that you spell out the consequences for any bullying behavior that takes place. Management should have a clear plan of action and follow up with any reports that workplace bullying is taking place as soon as they learn about it. Addressing the matter quickly may help you avoid costly legal expenses in the long run and it will absolutely help you maintain a more positive work environment for your team.

When it comes to legal compliance issues, the best approach is a swift one. Far too often businesses wait until the issue has gotten so far out of hand that legal action is the inevitable conclusion. However, if you create a culture of accountability and put in the time to educate your management and staff about your policies on a regular basis, you’ll be less likely to face compliance issues over time

Top compliance issues in the United States right now

For many of us, the phrase ‘compliance training’ conjures feelings of drudgery. Dull, mandatory training that you just want to get out of the way. While it may not be anyone’s favourite part of the job, compliance training is foundational for any business. 

Luckily, it doesn't have to be this way! Compliance shouldn't be a slog, as we recently discussed in our article on levelling up your compliance training. We believe it’s time to shatter that stereotype, giving employees the engaging compliance training they deserve. It’s a lofty goal, but maybe, it’s time to make compliance training sexy.

When done right, the benefits of compliance training are significant and far-reaching, ranging from higher productivity and profitability to increased employee engagement and risk reduction. These benefits apply to both small businesses and large global organisations, regardless of industry.

These benefits, coupled with your legal obligations, mean you are doubtless eager to ensure your business complies with state laws and industry regulations. However, like many, you might be unsure where to start. Compliance is a vast, intimidating topic, after all. Where to begin? You understand compliance is essential for the security and reputation of your business, but how can you improve compliance within your organisation? Thankfully, it’s easier than it sounds. 

Below, we’ve outlined three essential steps to get started on better compliance for your business. But first, we’ll examine the state of compliance training globally, sharing the key statistics you need to know. 

Let’s start with the good news first. Globally, compliance training is maturing. This year, the number of organisations with "mature and advanced" risk and compliance programs grew by 29%. Likewise, the number of compliance programs deemed “reactive and basic” fell by 34%. These statistics are hugely encouraging, showing that organisations are thinking more deeply about their compliance programs to deliver engaging, forward-thinking content. 

Even so, there is still work to be done, as just 17% of teams say their compliance culture is ‘fully aligned’ across the company. 70% say their compliance culture is somewhat aligned, while, more concerningly, 13% say it’s not aligned. On a brighter note, Deloitte finds that 57% of organisations rate their compliance culture as either positive or exceptional. 

These positive advancements make sense, as organisations lose an average of $4 million in revenue per non-compliance event, making a mature and comprehensive compliance culture essential. Similarly, CEI finds that US businesses spend an average of $10,000 per employee on regulatory costs, while regulatory monitoring can save $1.03 million on average. Moreover, there has been a 45% increase in non-compliance costs in the last decade. 

It is also interesting to note that remote work has impacted the cost of non-compliance. According to IBM, data breaches cost over $1 million more on average when remote work is a factor. Put simply, non-compliance is prohibitively expensive, meaning it pays to invest in an up-to-date compliance program. 

So, how much do teams invest in compliance? Bloomberg finds that 50% of organisations spend 6-10% of their revenue on compliance costs, while 20% spend less than 5% of their revenue on compliance costs. 

Further, according to Deloitte, 72% of teams say their compliance budget has increased over the last five years. Yet, 36% say the level of investment in compliance is inadequate, and it’s hard to argue. When the cost of non-compliance is so high, it’s well worth investing in a dependable compliance program. 

How are teams delivering compliance training?

In the wake of the pandemic, compliance costs now include 62% of organisations that use eLearning to deliver compliance training. 30% of teams use blended learning for their compliance needs, while 9% favour instructor-led training. Additionally, 34% of organisations outsource some or all of their compliance functionality. 

This shift towards eLearning has helped teams streamline their compliance programs, with 70% of compliance experts saying COVID increased their reliance on technology to improve decision-making, performance monitoring, and risk management. Overall, these figures represent a major paradigm shift, with teams discovering the benefits of eLearning for compliance training. 

While this shift to eLearning is a broadly positive step, there is still room for improvement, particularly for alignment and capacity. 60% of teams say their compliance training is only “somewhat tailored” to individual business units, while just 13% believe their compliance training is “highly tailored.” Further, 87% of teams say their compliance function has no spare capacity due to being understaffed, which is cause for concern. 

Top challenges and skills for compliance teams 

With these statistics in mind, it’s worth asking: what challenges are compliance teams facing, and what skills will they need to overcome these challenges? 

For starters, MetricStream identified some of the top challenges compliance managers face. These are: handling compliance assessments, undergoing control testing, and implementing policy and process updates. 

Likewise, Deloitte identified the biggest challenges compliance teams face: 

Coordination between business functions (17%)

To overcome these challenges, Thomas Reuters revealed the top three skills compliance officers need: subject matter expertise, communication skills, and anticipating future regulatory trends. 

Similarly, Deloitte found that the three most important skills for compliance teams in the future will be: influencing skills, communication skills, and stakeholder management. Future-ready compliance teams would be wise to start developing these skills. 

3 steps to better compliance training for your business

Now that we have a broad overview of the state of the compliance industry, the question becomes: how can my business deliver better compliance training? Here are three steps to exceptional compliance training. 

Compliance communication means informing staff of all policies, processes, and procedures that apply to an employee's industry and role. Essentially, it’s about getting staff to read, understand, and comply with relevant legislation and regulations. This can include anything from fire safety to cybersecurity, and everything in between. 

To achieve this clear communication, you must tell all staff that a compliance program is in place and ensure compliance regulations and policy changes are distributed, received, understood, and acknowledged by each employee. Many compliance programs focus on changing employee behaviour, while also communicating what to do in the event of non-compliance.

At this point, getting employee buy-in can often be challenging. Many employees may associate compliance training with negative stereotypes, such as wading through pages of legal jargon to understand the latest compliance updates.

Other challenges include competing priorities, which mean employees might not have time to read long compliance updates. Others still may be unaware of where updates are shared. Therefore, sharing compliance updates in plain, decipherable language is vital. You can also try summarising the key points of your compliance updates to ease time pressures. Finally, ensure all employees know where to access the latest compliance updates.

Thus, to create an effective compliance communication strategy, EQS recommends taking the following steps:

1. Maintain a central source of information so employees always know where to look if they’re confused. 

2. Establish a mechanism to communicate new regulations and amendments (i.e. a Slack channel, monthly meeting, or email updates). 

3. Align compliance messages across internal communication channels to ensure everyone sees them.

4.Generate continued interest in compliance topics by prompting employees to engage in continuous learning and upskilling. 

5. Harness the potential of microlearning to make compliance training seem less intimidating and time-sensitive. 

6. Make sure your compliance trainers also receive regular training to stay up-to-date with current information and trends. 

Most importantly, your compliance communication materials must carry the same key messages repeated over time to encourage behavioural change.

Compliance training for all employees is essential to make your company more compliant. 

Investing time and money into your compliance program to teach staff about company regulations and standards will ensure your organisation stays up-to-date, relevant, and on top of compliance issues, while also minimising the risk of legal problems. As outlined above, non-compliance can be exceptionally costly, so it’s never worth the risk. 

Satisfactory training coverage is an important measure of an effective compliance program, so you must ensure that all staff receive ongoing, relevant training on your company’s policies and procedures.

The easiest way to achieve this is via eLearning. As mentioned, 62% of organisations already use eLearning to deliver compliance training. Online training courses are available for all areas of compliance, making training incredibly easy, convenient, and effective. To learn more, check out Go1’s vast library of compliance training courses. 

3. Collect feedback on your compliance processes

Developing an effective feedback channel is a critical aspect of any compliance program.

Collecting feedback tells you what is really going on in your organisation, allowing you to identify problems before they become a risk. For example, you might want to ask some of the following questions:

Is your compliance training covering the topics your employees want it to cover? 

Are there any blind spots in your compliance training? 

Are employees retaining information after completing the training? 

What is your compliance training doing well? What could it be doing better? 

Are there additional topics on which employees would like to receive training? 

Do your employees find your compliance training engaging? 

What improvements would employees recommend to optimise your compliance training? 

Do your employees enjoy microlearning or gamification with their compliance training? 

These questions are only the tip of the iceberg, providing a wealth of practical, actionable insights that tell you exactly how your employees engage with your compliance training and how you could optimise your training in the future.

By encouraging staff to provide honest feedback and report any concerns, you can improve your processes, thereby improving your compliance.

It’s also essential to have a process that allows ‘whistleblowing’ without fear of retribution. Encourage employees to report any compliance failures or unethical behaviour and have clearly-communicated consequences in place for non-compliance.  

By following these steps, you’ll provide employees with clear communication, training, and feedback channels. Accordingly, you will be well on your way to building a stronger culture of compliance.

Keeping on top of compliance ensures greater transparency in the way your business operates, allowing you to improve your processes and efficiency. Improving your compliance training will also allow you to relax, knowing you’re doing the right thing for your staff and organisation.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

We’ve outlined three essential steps to get started on better compliance for your business. But first, we’ll examine the state of compliance training globally, sharing the key statistics you need to know. 

Getting started on better compliance training for your business

On a global level, compliance spending can be seen to be increasing, as organizations worldwide recognize the numerous benefits compliance brings to their business.

With the current boom of compliance happening across organizations worldwide, compliance specialists are in high demand globally, and this trend isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

However, there are still many companies choosing to invest only a small amount of time and money into making sure their business is compliant. Neglecting compliance issues can put companies at significant risk, in the way of hefty fines and penalties, as well as damage to their brand and reputation.

How much time and money are you spending on compliance for your company? 

Today we’ll look at the benefits of investing in company compliance, and show you why it’s worth spending more time, money and energy on this area of your business.

The Benefits of Investing More Money in Compliance

In the last year, between 2015 and 2016, there’s been a significant increase in the amount of money companies are spending on compliance, with a 60% increase in North America, 75% in Europe and 80% in the Middle East.

With compliance not actually generating income or profits for a business, why are so many organizations choosing to increase their financial investment in this area?

We’ve already mentioned the risks of neglecting compliance and the potential damage it can cause. With good policies and procedures in place, you can avoid considerable damage to your company’s finances, as well as your reputation. In many cases, the long-term damage of non-compliance will be far more costly than the financial resources needed to fund and operate an effective compliance program.

While these aspects are important, it’s also important to see the positive benefits compliance can bring to your business, rather than thinking of it only as a way to minimize negative impacts and risks.

With an effective compliance program, you’ll be making sure your organisation is staying true to its values and ethics, which is an essential component of your brand’s identity. A good compliance program demonstrates to both your employees and your market that you are committed to doing things the right way. It’s good business, on both levels. 

The Benefits of Spending More Time on Compliance

It’s also vital that you invest an appropriate amount of time and resources into your company’s compliance program. Think about how much time per week you invest in compliance – what resources are committed to managing compliance policies and procedures?

The most effective way to manage your organization’s compliance is to have staff who are dedicated solely to this area. Chief Compliance Officers (CCO) and Chief Risk Officers (CRO) have become essential resources for many organizations, rather than tasking various staff with these roles on top of their ordinary position descriptions.

Having staff committed to developing, implementing and assessing compliance policies and procedures will ensure your organization stays up-to-date, relevant and on top of compliance issues.

In a compliance report by Deloitte, the question is asked – “if you don’t have a lot of people whose only job is compliance, how can you ensure that the people responsible within the business units give compliance the same attention as everything else they are responsible for?” 

Make Compliance Part of Your Workplace Culture

As you can see, compliance is a combination of time and money – it doesn’t work without an appropriate investment of both of these factors. 

It’s important for organizations to recognize the benefits of investing in compliance programs to build a better culture of compliance. You can make compliance a part of your workplace culture, through strong policies and training in areas such as sexual harassment and workplace bullying and discrimination.

Compliance training for employees is a vital part of this step. By taking the time to teach staff about company regulations and standards, you can make sure their knowledge on organizational policies is always up-to-date and accurate, while also minimizing the risk of legal problems. 

Using e-Learning for Compliance Training 

E-Learning can be a great investment and training solution for your company, allowing your staff to complete training online, at their convenience, without interrupting their regular workflow.

Using a Learning Management System such as the Go1's online training platform, to provide staff with compliance training is a very popular choice for organizations because of the convenience and ease of use. With online compliance training, you can also keep track of individual progress and results, which is beneficial for employees, their team leaders or managers, and employer.

It’s also a more cost-effective solution, allowing you to save money on in-class trainers, as well as any facilities hire and travel expenses. Using a good Learning Management System for online training can reduce training expenses by more than 50%, saving you both time and money – which you can then invest in your new compliance program.

Why you need to spend time and money on compliance

Compliance is a very important part of any organization, regardless of whether you’re running a small business or managing a large global company.

Being compliant is essential for many aspects of your business, from local legislation, tax regulations, employee rights, intellectual property, data management and more. 'In its simplest form, you can think of compliance as playing by the rules. Failing to play by the rules can put your business at risk, resulting in significant fines for your company, as well as damage to your brand and reputation.

Unfortunately, company scandals involving ethics and corruption continue to demonstrate that many organizations are failing when it comes to building a culture of compliance. In the interest of your company’s reputation and long-term success, you must understand the importance of compliance and build an ethical work culture that respects and follows it.

So how do you achieve this? Read on for more information on how to create a culture of compliance in your organization. 

Foster an awareness of compliance in the workplace

To build a better culture of compliance you need to lead by example and start from the top, with CEOs, directors and managers showing their commitment to compliance. Without the active support of senior management in this area, your organization’s compliance policies will be little more than a token gesture, existing purely on paper rather than practice.

Managers and team leaders need to be aware of employee conduct (and misconduct) to help create a more visible culture of compliance. Make this a fixed part of your corporate culture, as you continue to build a strong and positive attitude towards compliance.

Fostering an awareness of compliance and instilling this value in your employees will go a long way in making your company more ethically sound.

Provide ongoing compliance training for all staff

One of the best things you can do to strengthen your corporate culture is to invest in ongoing active training for staff.

Through training, you can effectively teach employees how to recognize and respond to compliance issues. Involve all staff in compliance training, with the opportunity to revisit topics regularly to make sure their knowledge on organizational policies is always up-to-date and accurate.

You may also like to incorporate the topic into staff performance reviews to ensure employees are understanding and retaining this important knowledge, as well as being rewarded for demonstrating ethical behaviour.

Keep up-to-date with compliance regulations

In 2016, there has been a steady increase in regulatory initiatives worldwide. The compliance landscape is ever-changing, meaning businesses need to keep up-to-date with regulatory changes across the globe. 

To make sure your organization stays ahead, develop and implement a communication strategy to create awareness of compliance in the workplace, targeted at all staff, and consistently incorporate new regulations into your existing compliance program. 

If you’ve been neglecting setting up a compliance program, or updating your policies in this area due to financial reasons, think about the cost of potential fines and damage to your brand’s reputation. With fines of up to US $20M and imprisonment for up to 30 years for OFAC violations, you’ll soon see that it’s worth the cost.

There are significant benefits for companies who choose to invest in a better culture of compliance, including:

Organizations with high levels of integrity and ethics can be seen to have higher productivity, profitability, employee engagement and overall risk reduction, and compliance plays a big part in that.

Find out more about creating a culture of compliance

With so many tools and resources online, it’s easy to learn more about building a better culture of compliance.

Get a short introduction to this topic with the practical online course Promoting an Ethical Culture in Your Organization, which considers the important role of ethics and culture in organizations.

For more in-depth learning, L.E.A.D. with Integrity: Promoting a Culture of Ethical Conduct & Compliance looks at how you can turn a Code of Conduct into a living, breathing part of your organization.

This e-learning course helps managers and team leaders step up to the daily task of promoting ethical conduct and ensuring compliance in the workplace, through demonstrating personal commitment to their organization's culture of integrity. At the end of the course you’ll have a better understanding of the function of your organization's ethics and compliance program, as well as how to communicate standards of conduct to employees.

When you clock into work each day you’re normally focused on the tasks at hand; the emails you need to respond to, meetings you have to attend, and the calls you’ll be making throughout the day. As the one place in our lives that is supposed to be professional and “above board” at all times, it can be quite a shock if our workplaces suddenly turn hostile due to harassment.