Compliance concerns are not something new for workplaces, and they are not about to disappear soon. Workplaces are meant to operate in a cohesive and compliant manner, but as new individuals join, and external influences rise, compliance concerns can show up. The National Compliance Monitoring report showed that 48% of businesses were not compliant with workplace laws. Depending on the kind of workplace you are trying to build, compliance may go well beyond legal requirements and extend to ethical and business standards.
To address compliance concerns, the business will need to outline its expectations.
Navigating compliance concerns
Compliance is a risk that can lead to financial and legal consequences. How well employees abide by legal regulations and workplace policies can determine the company’s risk exposure. To deal with compliance concerns, an organisation can:
- Understand what applies to their workplace
- Consistently enforce policies and procedures
- Review and monitor compliance
- Develop a training schedule
- Respond promptly to non-compliance
- Employ a compliance officer
- Conduct compliance audits
- Use tools and software to spot potential incidents
Understand what applies to their workplace
Every business will have to deal with different laws and regulations that vary based on industry and country. By understanding all applicable laws, employers will be able to create better policies and procedures that will be easy to follow. It is not hard for an individual to be compliant once they know what is expected of them. The difficult part is introducing compliance into a workplace in a way that employees can embrace and recognise in their everyday activities.
This will enable companies to foster a compliant work culture. If employers are confused over laws and expectations, employees will be too.
Consistently enforce policies and procedures
When companies create policies, HR managers may look for templates to speed up the process. However, it is important that the template is modified to reflect the needs of the business. This will prevent compliance concerns that derive from a general guide rather than a customised document.
Employees should be constantly exposed to company policies and procedures. When they complete a task, during onboarding, when dealing with external stakeholders, or when interacting with one another, they should know how their actions may have consequences if they are non-compliant.
It should be emphasised that policies need to be clearly written in simplified language. This will ensure that they are inclusive of people with learning difficulties, those for whom English is a second language and those from varied educational backgrounds. Policies should also be accessible – employees should easily find them and read through them if they wish to do so. Putting policies out of reach, whether offline or online, is counter-effective and will make compliance concerns rise, not decrease.
Review and monitor compliance
To ease compliance concerns, organisations should constantly monitor business practices and stay up to date with the latest laws and regulations. As new legislation is frequently introduced, this may affect workplace compliance. For example, when COVID led to employees working from home, compliance concerns rose around safety and employee home office setups. That was something that companies did not have to consider before.
Develop a training schedule
To stay on track, a compliance training schedule should be created. This can cover IT compliance, work health and safety, new laws and more. As things can get busy, compliance training may become an afterthought, but it should not be. By setting up a training schedule, businesses will be reminded of their responsibility and potential risks they might face if they ignore them.
A training schedule also ensures consistency. As there is a pre-determined period of time between each training session, employees will not go a long time before receiving training. Extra courses might also be added throughout the year if an opportunity arises. Compliance training should also be part of the induction process when a new staff member joins.
They should know what systems are in place, what they can and cannot do and who they should ask for help when they need it. They should also be told how to submit complaints or any compliance concerns they have. Employees should have access to a whistleblower hotline in order to raise concerns and should be encouraged to use it – this way it can be used as a monitoring tool to close risks and prevent serious breaches, rather than a reactive tool that is only used when serious breaches have already occurred.
Respond promptly to non-compliance
Your compliance concerns will heavily rely on how you respond to non-compliance. If an employee went against policies and procedures, did you address it quickly and appropriately? Or did you let things slide? Responding appropriately to an incident will set a standard on how seriously the organisation takes misconduct and how they will react if staff do not follow the rules.
Employers should be mindful of how they respond to each incident as they want to achieve consistency and fairness. Undereacting to one situation and overreacting to another may lead to more problems down the line.
Our clients prioritise compliance in every part of their operations, and that is why they rely on us to help their investigators make their case management more consistent and more efficient. A faster response sends the message that the company does not mess around and incidents will be looked into.
Employ a compliance officer
Compliance officers can be necessary, usually for bigger organisations or companies who are struggling with compliance concerns that they do not know how to handle. Hiring a compliance officer can be the key to avoiding legal and financial problems. They are experts at problem-solving and showing empathy, which is very important in any business, as employees are humans at the end of the day.
A compliance officer can help entities recover from a damaged reputation and help them create a new image as a company that follows the high standards set by the industry and the government. Employing an expert will also contribute to the development of a more organised approach that is proactive rather than reactive. It will also show that the business prioritises compliance and is committed to improving.
While a compliance officer may seem like a good idea, it is still recommended to consider the company’s needs, expectations and resources.
Conduct compliance audits
Compliance audits evaluate whether a company is following external laws, internal policies and agreement requirements. These audits can help the business identify any potential compliance concerns early, help it uphold its reputation and keep any certification, such as ISO 9000. A compliance audit is carried out by an external, independent party that looks at the company’s procedures, statements and ways of working.
If the business ends up in trouble with the law because of misconduct or unethical practices, it can prove beneficial to have a compliance audit on record. The organisation will be able to show that it took steps to enforce laws and policies, but some things are outside its control. This can lessen penalties or other financial damage to the entity.
Use tools and software to spot potential incidents
If you go through your list of company software, how many of them are focusing on compliance and sending alerts when things go wrong? Putting safeguards in place ensures that there is a lower chance of non-compliance going unnoticed. For example, for employees who travel, you can choose software that enforces an allowable hotel or flight price. This will prevent employees from spending large amounts of money on accommodation and travel.
Our clients go a step further and integrate their software with Polonious. This allows us to pick up any red flags and notify case managers and compliance officers quickly so they can look into the issue.
Compliance software can detect suspicious transactions, spot unusual activity and block out unauthorised users. Having it installed can discourage any misconduct and show that the business may have other measures in place to deter illegal activity. However, compliance software is usually preventative and doesn’t handle the complexities of an investigation process, which is where a case management tool like Polonious comes in.
Remember: Always monitor your compliance concerns
As new employees join the company and markets become more competitive, compliance concerns are only set to rise, not decrease. There is never a time when executives can lie back and think, ‘Ok, I have done enough now. ‘ Compliance monitoring is a continuous activity that will be necessary as long as the business is active.
If employees see that supervisors and executives do not take compliance seriously, they are less likely to take it seriously. To minimise compliance concerns, ensure that your leadership sets a greater example for everyone else.
Moreover, if you see a worrying increase in non-compliance, work on finding and fixing the source of the problem, not the surface issue. Every time we work with our customers, we assist in their investigation by removing manual tasks, creating workflows that work for them and helping them set up an efficient system. This enables them to take care of their compliance problems faster and return to their normal business operations in a timely manner.
If you are looking to reduce compliance concerns, reach out and one of our experts will be happy to show you how our system works. Alternatively, we have many more resources that can help you. Consider reading:
What is compliance risk and 7 ways to manage it
Ways to ensure compliance in your business
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