Regulatory compliance ensures that your business operates safely and legally. That said, the things your people will need to know depend largely on their roles and the nature of your business. That’s why we’ve assembled this guide to the different types of compliance training businesses use.
- Key types of compliance training
- Risks of non-compliance
- Benefits of effective compliance training
- Simplify compliance training with Learn365
- Demo of Learn365
Following on from our guide on how to improve compliance training, today’s article will look at the different forms it takes, the importance of compliance for businesses, and how modern learning management software can make it easier to deliver training effectively.
Compliance training at work is any form of job training mandated by laws and regulations affecting your industry, or the area(s) your business operates in. It encompasses a variety of different skill sets and aspects of the law.
Of course, some types of compliance training are important regardless of industry. Most modern businesses, for example, need their employees to have at least some form of data-handling capability.
Key types of compliance training
Broadly speaking, you can break the different types of compliance training down into a few basic categories. You might be able to find more by splitting hairs, but we’ve narrowed today’s list down to four.
Getting the most out of your compliance training software requires you to have a solid understanding of each type. In no particular order, these are:
HR compliance training
Since many of our readers are HR personnel, let’s start with Human Resources compliance training. HR compliance covers all aspects of hiring, managing and supporting employees in the workplace. It may include:
- Anti-discrimination regulations
- Health and safety in the workplace
- Worker protections and employee rights
- Industry-specific regulations
HR compliance is essential for making employees feel supported at work. Since many employees can have a dim view of HR at the best of times, it’s especially vital to treat them fairly.
Cybersecurity training
At this point, most organizations store some form of sensitive data, whether it’s from employees, customers, or internal elements of the business. That’s why everyone you employ needs cybersecurity training to give them a working knowledge of basic practices, like:
- Password strength and hygiene
- Phishing and scam awareness
- How to use multi-factor authentication
Strong cybersecurity practices on the employee level are your first line of defense against cybercrime. All it takes is a single lapse for hackers to gain entry, which is why it’s especially vital to reinforce these skills.
Data protection compliance training
In the same vein as cybersecurity, we also have data protection training. This goes beyond personal security habits to look at an employee’s regulatory obligations when handling data. This training is essential to prevent employees from unwittingly violating the law. That’s why numerous businesses like the insurance company Youi rely on our software to track and deliver training.
The data protection regulations your business is subject to depend on where it operates. For example, companies conducting business in Europe will likely be regulated by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Your people will need to undergo a GDPR training course before they can be active in their roles.
US-based businesses, on the other hand, must abide by a combination of different regulations on federal and state levels. If your company operates internationally, however, it may be held liable by regulations from all relevant sources.
Industry-specific training
Last but certainly not least, there are all the regulations and certifications that apply to specific industries and sectors. We’d be here all day if we tried to detail all these types of compliance training. Long story short, when evaluating learning management software, your first port of call should be to make sure it caters to your industry with specific course content.
Industry-specific training areas include:
- Certification to use machinery or specialist equipment
- Financial regulations
- Medical and emergency first aid training
- Food service hygiene
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an internationally recognized certification body for many areas of industry-specific compliance training. This makes ISO training standards an essential benchmark, whether your company operates locally or globally.
Risks of non-compliance
According to a global business ethics survey from ECI, 65% of employees had observed a violation of standards or laws in the previous twelve months. At the same time, 72% of employees who witnessed misconduct reported it. Of course, that’s to say nothing of any violations that might go unobserved.
Compliance violations carry certain risks, ranging from brand damage to legal fallout. Calculating the learning management ROI of different types of compliance training is about more than increasing profitability. Consider the damage non-compliance can cause, and how much the right training can save you.
Legal risks
Many industry regulations are actual legal requirements. As such, there can be serious, direct consequences to ignoring these obligations. To be clear, Zensai isn’t a law firm, and the following information shouldn’t be taken as legal advice.
Data protection violations under the GDPR can result in expensive fines, with severe cases set at around €20 million or 4% of total global turnover. These are only an examples of the cost of regulatory fines.
Financial risks
Compliance violations that affect your customers, employees or other stakeholders also leave you vulnerable to legal action. So, as well as the risk of regulatory fines, different types of compliance training also protect the business from lawsuits.
While some compliance violations may be unintentional, others can stem from attempts to cut corners. For example, a warehouse manager might not bother to renew an employee’s forklift training after an extended leave of absence. They might be confident in their team member, but if an accident happens, the business will be liable.
As shown by the scale of GDPR fines, the financial risks of non-compliance can easily sink your organization. These costs can directly push your organization into the red, along with the next risk we want to talk about.
Reputational damage
Getting a reputation for compliance violations is never a good thing. At best, it can put a few investors and some customers off of your brand. At worst, it can cause most people to lose faith in your products or services, and cause your company’s stock to tank.
So, even if you survive the legal slings and financial arrows of non-compliance, your business can still be ruined by its after-effects. It’s not easy to bounce back from a damaged reputation. Even if you make meaningful improvements, consumers may be reluctant to give your brand a second chance.
Benefits of effective compliance training
Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. Now that you understand how serious compliance violations can be, it’s time to get positive. Corporate training and reporting may be an investment, but it’s one that can yield some notable business benefits.
Regardless of what types of compliance training your business uses, be on the lookout for the following positive effects:
Risk reduction
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way, shall we? Implementing compliance training means there’s a lower risk of violations happening. In particular, training lowers the risk of unintentional violations based on a lack of understanding.
For example, an untrained customer support worker for a streaming service might accidentally share a customer’s private account info with them without going through security questions. But training also lowers the risk of malicious violations by increasing regulatory awareness within your workplace. This leads rather nicely into the next benefit…
Increased accountability
By increasing awareness through different types of compliance training, you give employees the tools to hold each other accountable. This could be for internal standards violations, like a software developer releasing a patch without following bug-testing policies. Employees can even be whistleblowers for serious legal violations.
Increased accountability in your business reduces the temptation anyone can feel to commit an intentional violation, whether out of laziness or personal gain. It also means that genuine mistakes are less likely to be swept under the rug.
Improved work culture
Creating a workplace culture where people hold each other accountable incentivizes collaboration and communication. When people understand the importance of compliance, they’re more likely to take regular reporting and other policies seriously.
This means that the flow of information through your business will be of a much higher quality. Everyone wants to be working for the “good guy.” Similarly, nobody wants to be the person who puts everyone’s jobs at risk by getting the company fined.
Simplify compliance training with Learn365
With the different types of compliance training and their shared importance laid out, let’s look at how Learn365 can streamline training for your organization. Our platform makes managing compliance training easier for HR with the following features:
Centralized training
We’ve designed our learning management system to work with the Microsoft 365 tools you already use. Learning is delivered via desktop or the Learn365 mobile app. This way, all employees can access vital compliance training, regardless of role type.
Additionally, you can access our LMS through Microsoft Teams, so employees don’t have to waste time bouncing between apps. They’ll find all your course materials in one place, including your pre-existing materials and libraries we can provide with Content365.
Centralizing different types of compliance training enables employees to learn proactively. Besides the courses you set as mandatory, we offer plenty of learning resources for people to dive into optionally.
Automated tracking and reporting
We said Learn365 makes life easier for HR, and we meant it. Our Audit Trail tracks every step of training, from enrollment to certification, while our dashboards compile the latest metrics to give you real-time insights into compliance training effectiveness.
Combined with Learn365’s workflow automation for course management, this allows a relatively small team of L&D admins to support large numbers of end-users effectively. Automated tracking ensures you always have the latest documentation, which is absolutely essential for evidencing compliance.
AI-enhanced learning
Learn365 uses AI in a number of its features to deliver a more effective and comprehensive learning experience, such as:
- Learning path personalization: Our AI delivers personalized learning recommendations to each user, based on their role and areas of interest. This allows employees to explore the compliance content most relevant to their chosen career paths.
- AI-assisted course creation: Our AI-assisted course builder allows you to mix and match assets from across your content libraries, and find the best additions to quickly develop new compliance courses on the fly. This makes it much easier for L&D admins to keep up with the latest regulatory developments.
- Document conversion and content creation: Last but not least, Learn365 allows you to upload various documents and convert them into usable course materials. Our AI assistant makes it easy to generate insights and functional modules from what would otherwise simply be a mass of required reading.
Scalable to your business needs
Learn365 can enable learning for teams and organizations of any size. Autonomous teams and small start-ups can join Anjuna Airline Solutions as one of the many who are thriving on Learn365’s Freemium model.
For larger organizations, our various automation features streamline the workload for HR so that they can focus on delivering a truly comprehensive compliance training experience. For our full Human Success Platform, we also offer tiered levels of customer support for each stage of business growth. That way, you won’t have to worry about needing to change LMS platforms.
Modernize compliance training today: Free demo
It’s hard to imagine a more critical element of employee learning than the different types of compliance training. While non-compliance can damage your reputation and result in heavy legal costs, a culture of compliance can bring people in your organization together and hold them to higher standards.
That’s why it’s worth embracing modern compliance training software, if you haven’t already. Platforms like ours offer streamlined learning management that documents itself, so you’ll always be able to prove training compliance.
To find out more about what Learn365 can do for your business, contact our customer support team and schedule your live demo appointment today!
