In some organizations, the word "Compliance" creates an immediate negative reaction. Compliance is too often viewed in the context of 'dumb tasks to satisfy big brother or the company's way of controlling employees.'
When organizations have and enforce compliance programs and staff receive appropriate education they are providing a valuable employee benefit. The benefits of following program guidelines are:
- Financial Security = company doesn't pay fines or have to invest additional resources
- Job/Personal Security = company is financially healthy and no one gets in trouble
When an organization doesn't follow the rules, big brother (Government or Accreditation Entities) applies punishment. Punishment can be in the form of fines, more frequent monitoring, increased rules, imprisonment of those responsible, or all of these things.
An important note, "those responsible" is applied broadly in Government regulations and does not necessarily mean the actual wrongdoer. If the regulators believe employees should have known or were provided the education to follow the rules they can be punished individually. There are additional legal penalties for persons in leadership roles. Fortunately, most new hiring processes include compliance education.
To summarize, compliance is easy when you follow these simple steps:
- Know where to find a copy of the compliance program
- Know what your responsibilities are
- Know where to get questions answered or who to notify if rules are not followed
- FOLLOW the RULES
Compliance programs are a written safety net protecting both the company and the employee. Consider reframing your thinking about compliance programs from "annoying rules" to a company benefit.
