Think workplace compliance training simply fulfills regulatory requirements? Think again. This “boring” and “waste-of-time" training plays a crucial role in shaping company culture!
What Is the Importance of Compliance in the Workplace?
Improving compliance in the workplace environment is no laughing matter. Compliance safeguards employees from harassment, discrimination, bullying, and workplace injuries.
Keeping your company compliant means ensuring employees have the right training on a variety of important compliance training topics, including things like workplace safety, harassment policies, age and pregnancy discrimination, and so on. Compliance is mandated by federal, state, or local laws and regulations.
Compliance Training and Lack of Employee Engagement
Compliance training doesn't need to be painful. Yet, to most employees, it often is.
Gallup data shows that fewer than one in four employees (23%) who have participated in a compliance or ethics training session within the last 12 months would rate that training as “excellent”.
What can business leaders do about this lack of employee engagement to move forward to behavior changes and a compliance culture?
Companies may face punitive measures for non-compliance in areas such as training, employee behavior, safety incidents, and harassment claims. Some organizations take this same punitive approach with their employees. They assign the minimum required compliance courses and repeatedly email employees to ensure completion and box-checking. In some cases, consequences are enforced if due dates are missed.
This is a starting point, but it doesn't necessarily create a safe culture of compliance. Just watching a video or sitting through an hour-long class on sexual harassment doesn't necessarily equate to behavior changes and a safe workplace.
10 Best Practices to Master Workplace Compliance
Outside of mandatory training, what else can organizations do to create a culture of compliance year-round? How can business leaders encourage employees to live company values, follow workplace safety requirements, and demonstrate ethical behavior respectfully?
Here’s our collection of insider tips. Start putting these best practices in place now as employees will be much more receptive to compliance training going forward.
1. Identify Company Values
A company's values act as a road map, establishing company culture, ideals, and goals. Without identifying these values, building a culture of compliance can be like baking a cake without a recipe—even if you get it to stand up, it could fall apart at any moment. Once business leaders identify the company’s values (the ingredients of the compliance cake), they can begin to build a culture of compliance around them.
For example, a core value like "integrity" or "doing the right thing" encourages compliance. When business leaders model this value by being honest and having strong moral values, employees see the importance of compliance training and how it supports a safe work environment and healthy company culture.
2. Offer Both Manager and Employee Specific Training
The compliance training needed for managers often looks different from what’s needed by employees on the front line. If nothing else, both will play a pivotal role in compliance topics, each with distinct responsibilities, requiring tailored training approaches.
HSI can help you identify the right training for your organization to meet complicated compliance requirements... both federal and state-specific. Our HR Compliance Training Assessment can also help leaders decide which best practices to include in the organization’s workplace policies. It’s easy: Just answer a series of questions specific to your organization and download your customized report listing recommended courses. Complete the assessment today!
3. Teach What Employees Should Do, Not Just What They Shouldn't Do
Business leaders must emphasize both what employees should avoid and the right behaviors to adopt. Giving employees concrete actions to model and perform, as opposed to harping on what they aren't allowed to do, will get more buy-in and help them zero in on appropriate behaviors quicker.
For example...
- You should use a ladder instead of a desk chair.
- You should treat everyone like you would like to be treated.
- You should wear your safety harness, so you don't injure yourself.
Each of these examples could have started with “Do not" (e.g., "Do not forget your safety harness..."). However, phrasing them as "should" statements, creates a clearer mental image of the correct behavior, making them easier to remember and follow.
4. Teach the How and Why Behind the Message
Compliance training must go beyond the list of what employees should and shouldn’t do. Employees need to understand how and why those behaviors take root. Training will be much more effective when it gives them the rationale behind the message.
For example, don't just teach about anti-harassment but explain how and why it happens. When employees understand why harassment happens and how to identify it, companies have a higher chance of preventing it from happening. Offer courses on understanding offenders, targets, warning signs, bystander training, and how to build a healthy company culture. Check out HSI’s course library to see our offerings!
5. Eliminate the Stigma Around Uncomfortable Topics
Some compliance topics are just awkward to discuss. Still, being uncomfortable for a few minutes is a small price to pay for bringing certain compliance issues to light. There’s often a fine line between acceptable, friendly behavior and unacceptable harassment. That line will not be clear to everyone, and so business leaders need to make it perfectly clear.
Business leaders can make these conversations easier by removing the stigma around topics such as sexual harassment. Don't limit its discussion to small meetings behind closed doors. Freely discuss compliance training topics by referencing relevant news events. The more leaders can talk openly about these sensitive topics, the more others will, too.
6. Reinforce Training
Ensuring all employees complete their compliance training is the first step. To foster compliance year-round, employees need to pay attention to their behavior and their actions. Providing training reinforcement can help support compliance.
- Include quizzes during and directly after the training.
- Share training materials employees can download after completing a course.
- Allow self-directed learning so employees may revisit training courses.
- Managers can review key topics in team meetings to reinforce the messages.
- Add visual cues, like safety and respectful workplace posters, around the workplace as reminders.
- Clearly spell out compliance policies in the employee handbook.
7. Educate on the Benefits of Inclusion & Workplace Empathy
Go beyond the legal requirements of harassment training. Provide training on why understanding differences should be encouraged. Along with the benefits of an inclusive work environment, business leaders should encourage workplace empathy in their organizations as well. While inclusion can help feed innovation and creative problem-solving, there can also be misunderstandings among employees. These misunderstandings can be overcome by social awareness gained through empathy. Training in inclusion and belonging and workplace empathy will prove worthwhile!
8. Positively Reinforce Correct Behavior
Encouraging workplace compliance doesn’t always require strict guidelines—sometimes a small incentive can make a big difference. Here’s a simple example of how positive reinforcement can encourage workplace compliance. Many large buildings have both standard swing doors and revolving doors. While revolving doors help with energy efficiency and security, getting people to use them consistently can be a challenge. As a clever solution, the receptionist can give candy to employees who used the revolving doors, reinforcing the preferred behavior. Thus, making it more likely that employees would choose the revolving doors over time.
Now, consider how could you reinforce the behavior of someone who does not let a stranger in without a badge into the office building. Or someone who wears their safety harness as requested. Or leads with empathy.
9. Do More Than Check the Box
Again, compliance is so much more than just "checking the box." If business leaders really want to create a compliance culture, everyone is going to have to get involved and get their hands dirty.
One of the differences between a "checkbox" company culture and a compliance culture is the conversation. In a checkbox culture, the conversations around compliance in the workplace environment are very one-sided. Flip the script and make these actual discussions. Ask questions to find out what is actually going on in the workplace. Let employees share what they are experiencing. It starts by changing the mindset from "checking the box" to one of valuing and protecting employees. If business leaders look at the importance of compliance training to foster this kind of environment, rather than a tedious requirement, they’re promoting a more positive company culture and proactive approach to training.
When business leaders have more discussions, they’ll notice that not everyone is comfortable doing this. Make note of this but keep going. Without uncomfortable conversations, the real work never gets done.
10. Make Compliance Training Enjoyable
Yes, most compliance topics are serious topics, but you can still make them enjoyable. Business leaders need to find ways to be creative and positive. One effective way to do this is to celebrate certain "awareness" days and use those celebrations to start important conversations. Here are a few worth noting:
- Global Information Governance Day focuses on the importance of managing and governing information within organizations, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
- Workers' Memorial Day honors workers who have been injured, disabled, or lost their lives on the job, emphasizing the importance of workplace safety and health regulations.
- Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week encourages activities that raise awareness of compliance and ethics within organizations and reinforces a culture of integrity.
Observing these awareness days provides organizations with opportunities to educate employees, reinforce best practices, and foster a culture committed to compliance and ethical conduct.
HSI Can Help!
Employee engagement in workplace compliance training varies significantly based on the company's training methods.
HSI’s innovative microlearning learning strategies can substantially enhance engagement and retention. Findings from the Brandon Hall Group show that organizations that have adopted microlearning, delivering content in brief, focused segments, report a 50% increase in employee engagement and a 17% boost in job satisfaction.
See HSI’s effective compliance training content firsthand by previewing some snippets of HSI’s microlearning courses from our compliance video library.
Company culture will not change overnight, but business leaders can start the process of change by sharing our best practices with other company influencers and requesting a consultation with us.
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