Why is Employee Compliance Training Important?

Employee compliance training is required by law, necessary—and reduces risk

Why should you provide your employees compliance training, such as sexual harassment training and Code of Conduct training?

• Training your employees is key to building an ethical culture. By communicating your values and principles and ensuring that employees know what your policies say, you will reduce your overall risk—and increase your organizational performance.

• The law requires it. Recent court decisions, federal guidelines and state laws make it essential that you provide employees compliance training on certain laws and ethics-related topics.
• Your employees need it. Your employees need accurate and practical information to comply with the complex web of workplace compliance laws.
• Your organization will benefit from it. You will save money by reducing the number of legal claims and the costs of investigating, litigating, and resolving those claims.

Employers can avoid most legal and ethical violations by simply training their employees on the nuances of what the various laws require.  When evaluating whether or not to implement a compliance training solution, consider how many of your employees know how to handle the following common situations:

• Sexual harassment issue. "I am a supervisor in my company. My best friend, who works for the company in another department, just told me that her co-worker makes her feel uncomfortable by giving her hugs. She says she can handle the situation herself and asked me to not tell anyone. What should I do?"
• Overtime issue. "My assistant answers the phone when it occasionally rings during her lunch hour. Do we need to pay her overtime for this?"
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act issue. "I am interviewing an applicant who looks like she is five or six months pregnant. Can I ask her whether she plans on working after she has the baby?"
• Ethics issue. "I believe my supervisor may have falsified his expense report on a recent business trip. What should I do?"