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How to improve internal compliance awareness? Specific measures and key points are explained in detail.

Compliance
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In addition to power harassment and sexual harassment, there is now no end to the number of corporate compliance violations, such as inappropriate messages on social networking services. Therefore, efforts to raise compliance awareness are being promoted at various companies and organizations.

Compliance is now a corporate issue that cannot be left to others. It is important to raise awareness of compliance within the company on a daily basis to prevent fraud and misconduct.

In this article, we will touch on the reasons why compliance in the workplace is necessary and explain some key points to improve awareness of this issue. If you are in charge of human resources at a company, please take a look at this article.

Contents

What is "compliance" in the workplace?

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The literal translation of the word "compliance" is "adherence to the law," which means following the rules. In the workplace, the term compliance is becoming increasingly diverse.

Compliance with work rules and code of conduct

In addition to compliance with laws and regulations, compliance also means adherence to internal work rules and codes of conduct. Simply put, work rules are rules regarding working conditions and job rules set by the employer.

A code of conduct refers to the behavior that a company should have as an employee in order to ensure the continued operation of the company. Being "compliant" is synonymous with conducting corporate activities in accordance with work rules and the Code of Conduct.

Prevention of Harassment

Harassment, which is the harassment of another person by word or action, is another area of noncompliance.
Typical harassment includes the following

  • sexual harassment
  • bullying
  • alcohol related harassment
  • workplace mobbing
  • harassment or bullying via remote harassment

Harassment is often unintentional, and preventing these incidents is essential for compliant compliance.

Prevention of information leaks

Preventing information leaks is also part of compliance adherence.
From the standpoint of compliance, such actions as "taking data home with you because you can't finish your work" or "uploading photos on social networking sites that show internal documents" could also be called violations.

A situation in which personal or customer information is leaked could seriously damage a company's credibility.

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Why Increased Compliance Awareness is Noteworthy

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Why is there a need for increased compliance awareness now? There is a reason for the attention.

Public scrutiny of misconduct has become more severe.

The Internet and social networking sites have made the public more sensitive to scandals. And the more dishonest the response after a scandal occurs, the more severe the public scrutiny and criticism tends to increase.

If the criticism grows too loud, the company's credibility will be quickly eroded, and in the worst case scenario, the company may be forced into bankruptcy.

Increased risk of spreading on social networking sites.

The proliferation of SNS has increased the risk of fraud and scandals being spread. As soon as someone uploads a text or video to a SNS, the information can spread and be reported by media outlets such as newspapers and television.

IT assets need to be managed.

The increasing number and complexity of IT assets and their management is one of the reasons why compliance is now attracting attention.
IT assets typically include the following

  • personal computer
  • smart phone
  • tablet terminal
  • server
  • software
  • Network equipment

Nowadays, many IT assets have emerged and individual information security measures must be taken. For example, downloading software without permission because it is needed for business may damage a company's credibility due to license violations.

Therefore, a better understanding of license agreements within the company is important in raising compliance awareness.

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Causes of non-compliance

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Why do non-compliances occur? Next, let us look at the causes.

Compliance violations are more likely to occur.

Even if employees are aware of compliance, violations will occur if conditions within the company are poor.
For example, the following workplaces are prone to noncompliance

  • Lack of adequate internal training
  • Lack of employee management system
  • Lack of clarity on internal rules
  • No one in charge of managing IT systems

Low awareness of compliance within the company

The risk of fraud and misconduct is high in a company with low compliance awareness. This is because employees may unknowingly violate compliance due to lack of necessary knowledge.

For example, an "attempt at a joke" may turn out to be sexual harassment, or an "attempt at guidance" may turn out to be power harassment. In a company where the understanding of compliance is not widespread, it is necessary to first familiarize employees with the meaning of following rules and corporate ethics.

There is pressure from superiors.

Workplaces where there is pressure from superiors may have cases of noncompliance on a daily basis. This is because it is difficult to report violations within the company, even if they occur, because of the fear that they may be sanctioned.

With reports and accusations, we can identify problems and areas for improvement within the company and quickly ascertain the current situation. Therefore, an employee who reports from the inside should be protected by nature.

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Means of increasing compliance awareness

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Once a compliance violation has occurred, it takes a great deal of time to regain trust. Therefore, compliance education is essential and preventive measures must be thoroughly implemented. Next, let us look at specific training methods.

Conduct training

To prevent violations before they occur, compliance training should be conducted. In-house training will help employees understand the basic concepts and also help them understand CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), corporate governance, and other compliance-related issues.

Another advantage is that knowledge of past violations can be used to predict the risk of noncompliance.

Training should be conducted not only when compliance violations occur at your company or other companies, but also when laws and regulations are enacted or revised.

Use e-learning.

Compliance education through e-learning is also effective. Specifically, it offers the following advantages

  • Training can be tailored to individual progress
  • Can standardize the content to be taught
  • Easy for all employees to participate
  • Cost Saving

When implementing e-learning, it is important to investigate the cost and maintenance time before selecting a system that meets your company's needs.

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Key Points for Improving Compliance Awareness

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Here are some points to know when using training and e-learning together to improve compliance awareness.

Know your employees' awareness of compliance

First, find out to what extent employees are aware of compliance issues. Some long-time employees may have the mindset that "as long as we follow the law, we'll be fine.

However, the term compliance has become so overused that it is now also important to follow company rules. Listen to each person and make sure that you have a clear understanding of your employees' awareness of compliance before you train them.

Share compliance standards

Share your compliance standards by firmly establishing your company's basic policies and guidelines for conduct. Do not just emphasize compliance, but share the penalties for non-compliance as well, as this will serve as a deterrent.

Ongoing compliance training.

Compliance training should not be a one-time event, but should be conducted on a regular basis. This is because laws and regulations may be enacted or revised, and rules and laws are constantly changing.

In addition, since it is difficult to retain an understanding once it is understood, education should be repeated over and over again.

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Summary

In this issue, we introduced the topic of raising awareness of compliance, and in this age of social networking, where misconduct can be easily spread, the entire company must learn about the risks of compliance violations and strive to raise awareness of these risks.

Please use the compliance training contents of "learningBOX ON" when raising compliance awareness within your company.

learningBOX is a cloud-based elearning platform and you can easily build training courses online.
Created content will be delivered to employees and you can track their learning progress.

 In addition to the flexible content creation, personalized learning will boost each employee's understanding and knowledge by customizable settings.

There will be something you can do to improve your work environment.

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It's no longer someone else's business! Compliance and CSR affect corporate value

You may think that compliance and CSR are only for large companies. However, in order to continue business in the long term, it is important for not only large companies but also small and medium-sized enterprises to be aware of compliance and CSR. In this issue, we introduce the benefits and activities of CSR.

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