Maintaining workplace compliance is not as difficult as you would think. It’s true that understanding requires ongoing thought and that it takes some time. However, if you have the correct plan and workforce management, you won’t have to battle to maintain your firm compliance.
For this we need to understand what is workforce statutory compliance. So, what is it?
Workplace compliance is the act of adhering to local, state, and federal rules and regulations. Compliance regulations must be followed by all organizations, regardless of size. Additionally, you must adhere to workplace safety, confidentiality, and data security rules.
Workplace compliance impacts all facets of your business and is a crucial component of any company’s strategic planning. But it’s frequently regarded as a significant source of frustration for business leaders.
Because they frequently have numerous offices and data center locations, big organizations have even more compliance requirements to follow. Breaking the law can be expensive. Managing workplace compliance is crucial to reducing risk and safeguarding your workers’ personal information.
Workplace compliance will never be easy. It is a routine practice that keeps getting more complicated, especially for big organizations. Invest in efficient software to put yourself ahead of the compliance curve and that’s possible with understanding how you can effectively manage your statutory compliance with strategic workforce planning and by following these pointers, you can make it work:
Plan Ahead
By the nature of compliance, your strategic workforce planning cannot be a static document. The regulatory requirements are constantly shifting and you must acknowledge that as you plan for the future and model your compliance practices. Set goals for the short and medium terms and ensure you regularly check how you are doing.
An example goal could be to step up staff training in compliance over the next three years. For another goal, you might aim to redraft the company code of ethics in the next two years. An additional target might be to automate your business processes for authorizing employee trades or to improve the management of your insider lists in the coming twelve months.
Capture Data
Data drives good decision-making, so ensure you capture as much data as possible on your compliance efforts. Log all of the exception requests you receive, for example. In addition, you should log and categorize the whistleblowing reports that come in and, by law, you must capture data relating to trades by persons discharging managerial responsibilities(PDMR) and any person closely associated (PCA) with them. The more data you hold on all compliance activities, the more you can use it to track progress and to inform your future policy in a way that is beneficial for the business.
Track Trends Over Time
Using the data you capture, you can track trends over time and understand how you can adjust or rethink your compliance strategy, based on how it is used.
If there are a growing number of exception requests – where someone asks for a temporary lifting of the rules for them for a specific reason – it could be that your strategy is a success because people clearly understand the boundaries. However, it could also mean that the strategy is too restrictive and is preventing people from completing their work.
If there are many whistleblowing reports about wrongdoing in a certain department, it could be that you need to implement training for that department in order to bring them up to speed with the legislation they should be working within.
Create Escalation Systems
Your compliance strategy should not just alert the company to risks. It should also put in place a process that notifies the appropriate individual or team, allowing those risk owners to act immediately.
This requires escalation systems to be in place and for you to communicate with these entities about the correct procedures. A good example of this would be the process of creating an insider list. This list, required under the Market Abuse Regulation, contains details of all people with access to inside information which, if it were made public, would affect the share price of an issuer.
You must create the list as soon as the information is designated as inside information, notifying those included on the list and reminding them of their legal obligations not to disclose or act upon the information. This requires an automated process to ensure that it is escalated quickly and the list is put in place. Using Insider log for this procedure creates an easy way for insiders to add their information to the list and sends reminders to those who do not reply, ensuring you stay compliant.
Train Employees
Your system is only as effective as those running it and working within it. If they understand what is expected of them and when it is expected, they can use your policy and make the most of it. If the compliance obligations are unclear or confusing, the entire system could fail and you could become vulnerable to compliance risks.
Compliance training should happen regularly and reflect the changing legislative environment. Once employees know what to look out for and how to report their findings, the system can run smoothly and you are more likely to remain compliant.
Document your Strategy
One way to ensure compliance is working as it should within a company is to implement regular compliance audits. And one way to ensure you are ready for these tough tests of the strength of your policy is to document everything.
Note down everything you do to ensure compliance, keep records of your activity to show that you have tackled compliance issues in the correct manner, and archive proof that you have worked to mitigate future compliance risks. In the event that something goes wrong, being able to show that you have made real efforts to remain compliant could be the difference between receiving a sizable penalty and not.
One example of this is Credit Suisse, which was fined US$345,000 in 2021 for failing to have the necessary systems in place for tracking whether new hires correctly declared their personal trades.
Automate Tasks
Automation makes your processes run more smoothly. When accepting whistleblowing reports through an Integrity log, for example, you prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the case, meeting the compliance requirements for confidentiality. The platform also notifies the relevant department and keeps them updated with deadlines by which they must acknowledge receipt and provide feedback on reports to help you remain compliant.
Finally, successful workforce management may be attained by strategic planning, data-driven choices, and embracing automation. We at goBetter help organizations throughout their compliance journey. Our technology simplifies and automates different compliance issues, guaranteeing efficient and effective worker statutory compliance.
Explore goBetter for a smarter approach to compliance management.
