Compliance Training

Applicability

Compliance training is mandatory for high-risk industries such as life sciences, aerospace, insurance, banking, and oil and gas. But, since every company has its rules and regulations, providing corporate compliance training to employees is recommended.

Also, there are certain statutory requirements such as data protection, workplace safety, inclusivity, anti-harassment, and healthcare that cut across the spectrum. Therefore, identifying which regulations are relevant for the organization and providing corresponding training is essential.

Regulatory Requirement

Compliance training encompasses a variety of regulatory and corporate policy requirements. The training requirement can be categorized into three types:

• General: This is applicable in any industry and for employees at any level and relates more to corporate compliance training. The topics can range from sexual harassment to diversity, ethics, and bias. Most of the corporate policies reflect the rules and regulations of the land.
• Industry-Based: This varies from industry to industry, but there are also some common elements. Some of these include,

• Workplace Safety is governed by bodies such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (US), Health and Safety or HSE (UK), and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in the EU.
• Data protection is covered under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in US, Data Protection Act 2018 in the UK, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in EU
• FDA for food and life sciences industries
• Section 508 of the US Workforce Rehabilitation Act for accessibility
• Investor protection under Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002

• Based on Job Profile: Contractors and employees need to be provided training to ensure they know how to do their assigned tasks in a safe and responsible manner. They must be provided training on,

• Corporate policies and SOPs
• Company culture
• Workplace safety
• Code of conduct
• Job-related regulations

Benefits of Compliance Training

Noncompliance can lead to penalties and litigation for the companies. However, more importantly, by providing training, businesses can experience the following four benefits:

• Aligning with corporate culture: Compliance training empowers employees with information on laws, regulations, and industry standards that help them perform their jobs with greater clarity and confidence. This will reduce the chances of errors and being penalized by authorities for non-compliance.
• Risk-based approach: Regulations generally recommend a risk-based approach to proactively identify and mitigate risks and strengthen the operations and outcomes of the business activities. Compliance training enables employees to participate by being aware of how to identify the risks and reporting them early for corrective/preventive action to be taken. Therefore, in addition to creating awareness about the regulatory and policy requirements, the training must encompass topics such as best practices, safety measures, and protocols, to minimize errors and respond promptly to prevent or reduce damage.
• Making the workplace safe: Worker and environment safety are gaining importance. With SDG goals, the focus has become sharper and more expansive. Therefore, compliance training must help employees understand and determine potential hazards and imbibe safe behavior to reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace.
• Protecting confidential data: While connected systems have improved visibility and transparency in the organization, they have also increased the risk of breaches. This makes data protection and cybersecurity imperative. Employees must be aware of how to handle data carefully, identify cyber threats, and ensure data privacy.

Best Practices

• Focus on creating a culture of compliance: Compliance training can be about the ‘don’t dos’ or about inspiring employees to excel in their jobs with mutual respect and care for the environment and the workplace.
• Lead by example: Theoretical knowledge without model behavior will not have any impact. When employees see their leaders and managers putting the policies in practice, they will emulate and contribute to making the company compliant.
• Provide Ongoing Compliance Training: People change. Processes change. Policies change. Even regulations change. Therefore, ongoing training to help employees adapt to this constant change is essential.

CQ for Effective

ComplianceQuest is a cloud-based solution aligned with the ISO standards and helps corporate-wide implementation of quality management. It includes training management software that enables managers and leaders to identify the training needs of the employees and provide relevant training. This could be job-related or regulations-related. The courses can be delivered online or through workshops, depending on the convenience of the employees. Managers can assess progress, identify needs, and evaluate the performance of the workers.

The training management system provides business leaders with insights into the training needs of the employees to assess gaps as well as courses that must be delivered. This helps with constant improvement and better compliance.

Why is compliance training needed?

Compliance training equips employees with information on the laws, regulations, and internal policies that are relevant to their industry, company, and role.

What should compliance training cover?

There is no single course material for compliance training as it will vary according to the industry and the region of the company. But it should cover some common topics, such as safety, ethics, etc., in addition to industry-specific topics.

What are the 5 important aspects of corporate compliance training?

Corporate compliance training aspects include:

• Leadership commitment
• Risk assessment
• Standards and controls
• Training and communication
• Tracking and monitoring

Frequently Asked Questions