Compliance is an integral part of most organizations. Think of the Code of Conduct, cyber security, or ethics. Often, most employees are not enthusiastic about reading long documents with legal language, but it just simply must be done. How do you ensure that compliance training for your employees is not just a box-ticking exercise, but that the participants actually learn something from it? And are there even ways you can make compliance more fun?
What is compliance training?
Compliance training refers to the process of educating employees of your organization on laws, regulations, and company policies that apply to their job functions. The purpose of compliance training is to ensure that employees understand their responsibilities and obligations to comply with legal and ethical standards. This is typically required in industries such as healthcare, finance, and government, where strict regulations and laws are in place.
Compliance training can cover a wide range of topics, including data protection, anti-discrimination policies, workplace safety, and cybersecurity, and so on. The content and format of compliance training can vary depending on the industry, the organization, and the type of compliance issue being addressed.
Compliance training for employees
First things first. What is employee compliance training? Compliance is the expected behavior or state of being according to established guidelines, processes, or specifications. Compliance is becoming increasingly important for organizations due to an increasing number of regulations and guidelines. These can be set by e.g. the government, agencies, industry, unions, or the organizations themselves. Your employees need to be aware of all these compliance guidelines, and that’s why organizations develop and offer compliance training. With employee compliance training, your employees are completely aware of all guidelines and regulations. Well, if you do it right. Read on for examples from our customers and get inspired!
Compliance training plan
The plan for developing and rolling out compliance training is different for every organization. However, there are some generic points to keep in mind:
- Keep the compliance training plan up to date: Are there any changes regarding the guidelines or regulations? Make sure that these are implemented in the training as soon as possible.
- The approach: How are you going to transfer the information? Look at the amount of information and then look for a good way to spread it. For example, do not plan a long physical meeting, while the same information could also have been distributed via a short e-Learning.
- Regular repetition: Make sure people have the knowledge ready and offer regular repetitions.
- Tracking and results: Keep track of who has completed which trainings and ensure that the results are transparent.
Example 1: From reading to applying and doing
How it was
One of our customers had an existing 14-page document about the code of conduct. The document contains information about 7 core domains and at the end of the document, the employees need to sign it to ‘prove’ they have read and understood the content. Although this technically might be sufficient to cover the legal need, it isn’t the best way for knowledge transfer and it doesn’t guarantee that people truly understand what they are reading.
How it improved
Since the document is well constructed we decided together with the customer to add an extra dimension to the existing content. We choose for the Learning Format STORYWISE with extra exercises based on different stories.
How it’s done
From the content of the document, 13 real-world situations were created that allows participants to learn from applying the information from the document. Participants not only learn from the feedback from each situation, but they also have the possibility to revisit segments of the document.
The result
A compliance training that doesn’t only meet the basic legal requirement of informing all employees, but also combines this with a learning experience. The exercises are aimed to give participants a possibility to really understand and apply the information from the compliance topic. In this way, it becomes more than a check-off exercise. It creates a change in behavior and provides a better understanding of the information.
Example 2: Participants only learn what they don't know yet
How it was
Typically, mandatory compliance training modules must be repeated annually. Many customers run into the fact that participants saw the course as a mandatory task that they had to tick off. As a result, the learning rate was incredibly low. This is mainly because participants repeat what they already know, and thus spend a lot of time without learning new things.
How it improved
The customers were looking for a way to adapt the course to the existing prior knowledge of each participant.
How it’s done
In these situations, the FASTLANE learning program is chosen. In this program, participants start with an intake test. This test allows them to demonstrate their prior knowledge. Based on the outcome of this adaptive test, it is determined which activities from the course are mandatory, and for which parts exemption can be obtained. At the end of the complete program, each participant must take a final test in which the complete content is tested. In this way, each participant completes the program at the same level.
The result
This resulted in an adaptive learning program that tailors itself to the prior knowledge of participants. Not based on how they perceive their knowledge ability, but based on objective results. The motivation to complete the mandatory course is increased with participants since they at least get the recognition for already knowing specific parts of the content. For the business, these adaptive courses are also a win since they see a drop in turnaround time of no less than 30 to 40 minutes per participant. This while still being assured that participants have obtained the required knowledge.
Example 3: Tracking if people read information on the learning system
How it was
This last example is from a customer who wanted to share information with new employees about several compliance topics. They had a system in place whereby the new employee needed to come to the office, pick up a folder with documents, and sign for it at the reception. The registration was done in a central Excel file so every manager could track if their team members had received the required information.
How it improved
Not surprisingly, the customer was eager to automate this process to make it simpler. They also wanted to integrate it into the onboarding program of the learning system.
How it’s done
The solution was found in the Smart Program INFOGUIDE. This solution offers a reading confirmation function to track if everything has been read and understood. Alongside the information expected to be read, interactive elements are added. If every box has been ticked, it will be registered as completed in the Learning Management System (LMS).
The result
The process is now much more efficient for new employees. Managers can also keep track of which team members have completed the courses. Therefore, the Excel document has become redundant.
Improve your compliance training with FLOWSPARKS
Do you want to improve your complaince training? With the FLOWSPARKS platform you can create interactive and effective e-Learning modules. Schedule a demo with FLOWSPARKS. We’ll be happy to show you the possibilities.