Technological and ethical challenges can pose great risks to organizations. Failure to meet regulatory, ethical, or technological compliance requirements may lead organizations to the loss of profits, talent, customers, and reputation. This is why almost every successful organization has a compliance learning program to ensure all its employees know what the right thing to do is at all times.
In this article, we take you through the main components of a compliance program and how you can build one for successful results.
The Components of a Compliance Program
Compliance requirements are often too numerous to be bundled up in a single course, so often a compliance program will be composed of several courses that can be taken at different times to help employees learn about compliance requirements without being overwhelmed.
Here are the main components that a compliance program is usually structured around.
1. Code of Conduct
An organization’s code of conduct is a set of rules, policies, and principles that define how employees are expected to behave in the organization. It underlines what is considered acceptable behavior and what is not. This is essential, as it helps in getting all employees on the same page and holding everyone accountable to the same standards.
The code of conduct is usually presented in the form of a short booklet for reading. In fact, 86% of Fortune Global 200 companies utilize a code of conduct. However, you’ll often find that you’ll need to make a training program out of it to make the information more digestible for the employees.
For the code of conduct to be effective, it needs to cover the following topics:
- Business Ethics
- Conflict of Interest
- Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy
- Gifts, Gratuities, and Entertainment
- Anti-Money Laundering Policy
- Anti-Harassment, Anti-Bullying & Anti-Discrimination
It is also common practice to request employees to sign a declaration form at the end of such programs to confirm understanding of the policies and declare the non-existence of a conflict of interest.
2. Health & Safety
The health and safety of employees at work is paramount for the success and sustainability of any organization. Every job family comes with its own health and safety hazards. These health and safety risks can cause avoidable accidents, injuries, decreased health, and, possibly even, loss of life. These risks can badly affect an organization’s reputation and employee morale.
Moreover, health and safety training has now moved beyond merely physical safety and into psychological safety. To succeed, organizations need not only include physical health and safety courses in their compliance programs, but also wellbeing and psychological safety.
A comprehensive health and safety program usually covers the following topics:
- Ergonomics
- Slips, Trips, and Falls Prevention
- Risk Assessment & Management
- Fire Prevention & Fighting
- First Aid & Emergency Response
- Manual Handling
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Electrical & Chemical Safety
- Workplace Accident Reporting and Investigation
- Well-being & Psychological Safety
It is important to note that although some health and safety requirements are generic, others are business-specific, job-specific, or even country-specific. For the best safeguarding, you need to be on top of the regulatory updates in your country and domain to always have the most updated health and safety program in your organization.
3. Data Privacy & Information Security
The rapid innovation in information technology has presented organizations with great opportunities, but it has likewise presented them with great risk. In fact, the annual average cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit more than $23 trillion in 2027, up from $8.4 trillion in 2022. In most of these cases, employees are the first and best line of defense. This is why empowering employees with training on data privacy and information security is essential to safeguard against these risks.
A thorough data privacy and information security program would usually cover the following topics:
- Data Laws & Regulations
- Data Protection Principles
- Individual Data Rights
- Data Handling Best Practices
- Common Cyber Threats & Attacks
- Password Security
- Email & Communication Security
- Device Security
- Network & Cloud Security
- Physical Security of Information
- Incident Reporting Procedures
With data privacy and information security, training is not enough. It must be cemented with actual organizational policy that governs and enforces the best data and information security practices.
4. Environmental Safety & Sustainability
Organizations and economies are now focusing on the triple bottom line, which structures success around the 3 Ps: Profit, People, and Planet. To help steer your employees in this direction, it is common practice to include an environmental safety and sustainability course in your compliance program. Also, there is an increasingly growing number of sustainability regulations now worldwide that organizations need to adhere to.
Environmental safety and sustainability programs usually cover the following topics:
- Environmental Laws, Regulations & Standards such as ISO 14001
- Waste Management
- Pollution Prevention & Control
- Chemical Management & Handling
- Energy Efficiency & Conservation
- Water Conservation
- Environmental Incident Reporting
- Sustainable Development
- Resource Efficiency & Circular Economy
- Supply Chain Sustainability
- Carbon Footprint & Climate Action
- Biodiversity & Ecosystem Protection
Some of these topics are generic; others are business-specific or function-specific, so you need to mix and match to create the right program for your organization.
How to Build a Successful Compliance Program
Most large organizations have compliance programs, but a recent study shows that one in three major corporations has an ineffective program. If you’re one of these organizations or are simply building a compliance program for the first time, these tips can help you.
- Determine your compliance objectives
As we have clarified earlier, compliance objectives and, thereby, the exact components of any compliance program differ based on the organization’s industry, functions, and country of operations. This is why it is important to first identify the specific laws, regulations, and standards that apply to your organization before deciding on your compliance program’s objectives and structure.
- Blend between off-the-shelf and custom content
With some compliance topics, you may find courses that are readily available and that meet your goals. With other topics, especially those that are specific to your industry or organization, you may need to custom-make the content to meet your needs. Although this may be a time investment upfront, it will save you a lot of time, money, and effort in the long run and will achieve greater compliance effectiveness.
Here’s a sample of learning material that XpertLearning has custom-created for a UAE school. You can see from the video that this kind of material may not be easily available off the shelf since it is very specific to a school environment. This is where custom content comes in handy.
- Start with onboarding and reinforce compliance
Organizations often include their compliance program within the onboarding program for new hires. This is best practice since it ensures employee alignment and compliance from day one. However, one of the biggest mistakes that organizations make is to assume that this is all that is needed. Compliance is not a hit-and-run; organizations need to reinforce it regularly for best results.
Compliance can be reinforced with learning in the flow of work initiatives, on-the-job training, organization-wide communication campaigns, microlearning snippets, and refresher training. It would also go a long way if you could incentivize compliance by connecting it with your organization’s rewards and recognition program or employees’ KPIs.
- Measure and improve as you go
You cannot manage what you cannot measure. This is why you need to have some metrics in place. Common compliance measures are compliance program maturity scores, reduction in violations or fines, policy acknowledgment rates, phishing test click rates, number or severity of compliance incidents, and repeat incident rates.
As you measure your progress against the metrics, you can learn what works for your organization and what does not, and make plans for the improvement of your compliance program accordingly.
Build Your Compliance Program with the Right Partners
Building a successful compliance program is not easy, but it does not have to be hard work! With the right partners, you can create a blend of off-the-shelf and custom-created content for your organization’s compliance program. Contact us at [email protected] to learn more about how we can help you build the right compliance program for your organization.