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Written by Liz McDermott |
Every organization needs to have policies and procedures in place to keep operations running smoothly — especially when it comes to employee compliance. In today's digital woke age, where hackers constantly find new ways to exploit business infrastructure and cultural awareness defines your employee brand, companies can’t afford to take risks due to lack of training.
This is why so many companies are investing in employee compliance training that focuses on keeping employees compliant with company standards. This article will give you a brief overview of the benefits of implementing compliance training and four simple steps you can take to get started with compliance training.
What is Compliance Training?
In simple terms, compliance training is required training set by management to inform employees across the entire organization so that employees understand their responsibility in making sure day-to-day operations run smoothly.
This training is made up of educational exercises that provide training to individual employees on company policies, the organization's values, security measures, workforce culture, health administration laws, compliance standards in your industry, and federal and/or state regulatory requirements. Depending on the location and size of your workforce, a compliance program may target all employees, or just specific job roles, or employees located in certain areas.
Some companies provide this training as part of employee onboarding or new hire orientation. Others do it on an annual or semi-annual basis, others do it on a periodic basis, while others do nothing at all until something bad happens, or a regulatory audit takes place.
Compliance training can be formal or informal, on-site or online, one-time events, or a series of courses. They all share one thing: They help your employees improve their performance, reduce risk, help your company grow, and drive profitability.
No matter how you choose to implement it, this training is an essential tool for securing the longevity of your workforce by protecting employees and preventing compliance issues. It can encourage people to have a positive impact through a learning experience.
Why invest in Compliance Training?
There are several reasons why investing in compliance training is important. The first is that, in some industries, non-compliance can result in serious penalties or even fines. For example, in some industries, health and safety training is required, and failing to meet these standards could result in a hefty fine from regulatory bodies like OSHA.
Most companies are subject to employment law penalties for non-compliance when it comes to workplace harassment and discrimination regulations. Compliance training reduces the risk of litigation costs as well as losing customers because of negative publicity. Training employees on acceptable work behavior and providing them with the knowledge on how to behave when faced with uncomfortable situations or when representing the organization and dealing with customers helps workers perform optimally.
Overall, this required training reduces the risk of workplace accidents and negative performance, directly impacting organizations' bottom line. Training is essential to keep the workforce up to date on new policies.
Compliance Training Examples
Compliance training can cover many industry-specific topics, as well as employment laws, data privacy, health and safety requirements, compliance requirements such as financial regulations, and healthcare records handling.
As part of growth and talent strategies, some companies include training courses about company culture and brand standards as part of their compliance training. Compliance courses provide relevant content on regulations, industry safety, and more.
Compliance training programs typically include workplace policies and regulations covering the following:
Occupational Safety and Health
Workplace health and safety training courses educate employees on safety standards and regulations applicable to working in different environments. Course titles like bloodborne pathogens, ladder safety, fire safety, how to respond to an active shooter, hazard communication, ergonomics, personal protective equipment, and how to use a fire extinguisher, to name a few.
Employment Law Training
Internal policies on employment laws, from best practices for hiring, onboarding, and terminating employees to business ethics and harassment prevention. Compliance courses on sexual harassment and discrimination prevention training and workplace discrimination are primary examples of training driven by federal or state compliance regulations.
Industry Specific Training
If your organization operates in a specific industry, you may be required to train employees on topics such as Sarbanes-Oxley if you are in accounting and finance, SEC compliance if you are a bank or any financial institution, HIPAA training if you are a healthcare institution, food handling if you are in hospitality.
Cybersecurity Training
In the last couple of years, there's been an explosion of cybersecurity courses from accrediting organizations as cyber attacks continue to increase in frequency, volume, and severity. Course topics like Phishing Awareness, Ransomware, Password Security, and Identity Fraud are standard for preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Diversity and Inclusion Training
DEI Training programs have proven to drive profitability for many companies by helping reduce the high cost of employee turnover. Course topics like Unconscious Bias and Gender Identity help organizations address issues that are often difficult to discuss.
4 Steps to Build a Compliance Training Program
When starting your compliance training journey, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to start from scratch. There are many standards and best practices that you can adapt and integrate into your program. For example, regulatory bodies like OSHA offer compliance templates that can help you jump-start your program by providing you with the information you need to cover.
1. Define the Culture You’re Seeking to Build
Before you begin building your compliance training program, it’s important to define the culture you’re seeking to build within your company. What does your company’s culture mean, exactly? Workforce culture is the way employees interact with one another, and it’s also the unspoken expectations that come with those interactions. What types of behaviors do you want to reward? What types of behaviors do you want to discourage? What resources are available, and what process is in place? It’s important to put these ideas into writing so that they are easily accessible to employees in your employee handbook. You can accomplish this by creating a culture deck that outlines company values, expectations, and mission.
2. Identify Regulatory Training Requirements
Your organization, depending on the nature of your industry, the size of your company, and your location, may be required to provide employees with regulatory compliance training. This may be employment law requirements like Sexual Harassment training or health and safety requirements like Slips, Trips, and Falls training. If you operate in healthcare, you may need HIPAA training. If you operate in the financial sector, you may be required to provide financial reporting training. Determine what standards your workforce must adhere to for your organization's compliance.
3. Hold Training on Company Standards & Culture Basics
Now that you have a solid foundation for your compliance training program, it’s time to turn your attention to the basics of company standards and culture. Consider your business and talent strategies. One of the best ways to begin cultivating a strong culture is by teaching staff about the company standards. In other words, you want to make sure that all employees fit not only within your culture but also within the standards that promote a workplace environment that helps your business grow. You can structure training sessions throughout the year to address the needs of new and existing employees. By forming a habit out of these training sessions, your employees can be more mindful of their actions and how they impact the company’s goals. Regularly scheduled training also helps your team stay up to date on the latest rules, regulations, and best practices.
4. Offer Continuous Training on Key Topics for Ongoing Awareness
For certain topics, such as employment law and cybersecurity, it’s best to provide employees with an ongoing refresher course. There are several ways you can do this. For example, you can:
- Integrate ongoing training into the onboarding process to ensure that new employees receive the latest information and resources as soon as they join the company.
- Host monthly lunch-and-learn sessions where you cover a specific topic and keep track of attendees.
- For many topics, you may find that it’s easier to deliver content through a library of articles, videos, and podcasts.
- Partner with an elearning provider that maintains training up to date with the latest requirements and tracks employee training completion.
Conclusion: Invest in Online Compliance Training Courses
All businesses need to follow certain compliance standards to ensure that they are operating efficiently and legally. A compliance training program is an essential way to achieve this. It’s important to remember that every workforce is different, which means there is no one-size-fits-all solution for building a compliance training program. Instead, you should take the time to carefully assess your compliance needs, resources, workforce culture, and business operations and find ways to improve them.
Online compliance training is a turn-key solution for implementing a compliance training program fast, making it easier for HR managers to promote an optimal work environment for employees to do their very best and keep employees safe.
Vubiz's comprehensive compliance training library covers a wide range of compliance training topics to address general data protection regulation, state and federal laws, health insurance portability, accountability act, anti-harassment training, anti-bribery, health care privacy, and many compliance topics.
For more information, please contact us to inquire about our award-winning Compliance training programs.