Multiple industries, including construction, medical, chemical, process manufacturing, automotive, and aviation must follow compliance laws. The purpose is to ensure businesses operate safely and efficiently. In addition to keeping workers safe, compliance is what helps different types of companies perform at an optimal level.
The question becomes when you should launch compliance training programs.
Do Something Now
Whether you recently started a new business or have an existing company without any compliance training programs already implemented, you do not want to wait to start planning. The longer you go without providing your employees with the appropriate training, the more you expose your business to risks.
Keep in mind that setting up even one program does not happen overnight. It takes research and careful planning. Start by organizing a team to determine which training programs workers need to complete for your specific industry. Ultimately, these programs would apply if you have a publicly regulated business and have employees who work under stringent regulations.
Planning
It can take up to three weeks to gather all the pertinent information needed, another week to choose the appropriate online courses, and then 2-3 weeks for final planning. During this process, the goal is to understand the specific risks that your company faces, allowing you to select courses that address each of them.
The key to choosing online training courses is to have the information you need about compliance issues so that you can make a well-informed decision. As part of this, determine if you require every employee to go through training or select departments that are exposed to risk. Remember, compliance is not just about safety but also efficiency. Therefore, training covers multiple topics, including manufacturing processes, chemical handling, human resources, social media use, working with government agencies, and much more.
With all the necessary information gathered, now comes the fun part of selecting the required compliance training courses. When you deal with a reputable source, you can find compliance training on virtually anything you need. One particular company offers courses created and often presented by either industry or compliance experts. Also, because these courses generally take 30 minutes to an hour to complete, there is no disruption in business operations.
The Benefits of Compliance Training Programs
Training Topics
- Code of conduct
- Contracts
- Data privacy
- Discrimination and harassment
- Export compliance
- Fraud
- Government contracts
- HIPPA
- Information security
- Insider training
- Records retention
- Social media
Start Training
- Newly Hired Employees – You can make compliance training mandatory as part of the orientation. Before starting official work, the new hire should take the required courses. If you have a group of new employees, you could have them all complete the training at the same time.
- Existing Employees – The way you set up compliance training will depend on the number of workers you have. For a small business with 5-10 employees, you could have one individual at a time complete one or more courses to avoid disrupting workflow. For a large organization of 50 employees or more, you might consider setting up groups of 10 who can take the training together.
Risks of Being Non-Compliant
- Hefty Fines – If enforcers of compliance laws find that your business is non-compliant, you could face hefty fines.
- Insurance – Being non-compliant also puts your company at risk for either paying significant insurance premiums or having your current provider drop you.
- Contracts – You know all the contracts that you and your team worked so hard to secure? If not compliant, there is a good chance of having them become unenforceable. In other words, all the hard work was for nothing because of invalid contracts. In addition to that, you could lose those customers and end up with a damaged reputation.
- Tax Liability – There are even tax liability issues when non-compliant.
