Is Your Organisation Prepared for a Compliance Audit?

August 14, 2019 | Reskill Your Workforce | 4 min read
Is Your Organisation Prepared for a Compliance Audit?

Despite the near-constant barrage of reports about the risks of non-compliance or the latest GDPR breaches and fines, the data tells us that UK companies are struggling to achieve complete compliance. A 2018 Baker McKenzie survey of over 500 companies found that 52% of large UK corporates have unresolved compliance issues yet to be discovered by a regulator. The same report also shows that 55% of leaders are overwhelmed by the risk exposure of their business.

To assess the landscape, Skillsoft conducted a survey at the 2019 June Safety and Health Expo in London. We discovered that the majority of companies are grappling with compliance, and far too many are using outdated infrastructures and technologies. For example:

  • More than 3/4 of respondents are still using manual processes to track employee understanding and engagement with compliance policies and related training material;
  • It could take up to a month for most respondents to run a full compliance audit report on employees; and
  • Less than half are using electronic signatures for tracking employee attestation to signal engagement with compliance policies.

Compliance training stumbling blocks

Apart from the fact that many organisations appear to have significant reporting challenges, it is apparent that many also have considerable training impediments. Our survey found:

  • More than half of respondents struggle to provide localised training content, policy documents and operating procedures in different languages;
  • Nearly 75% state that the Health and Safety training technology currently available is not specific enough for their organisation;
  • Only a quarter believe the current technology is relevant for their business;
  • Just 35% of Health & Safety teams can evaluate employee comprehension and understanding of critical risk issues automatically; and
  • Almost half (44%) are either unable to run automated evaluations or choose not to run any evaluations whatsoever.

How technology can work to address compliance concerns

Recognising that shifting from one approach or system to another is a behemoth task, I still advise organisations to implement systems and processes that ensure compliance. In 6 Ways Certitude Enhances Compliance Training, my colleague Norm Ford provides a list of the essential functions compliance software applications can and must offer to ensure an organisation is always audit-ready.

Here’s the list:

  • Streamline the distribution of documents, policies and standard operating procedures
  • Track employee attestation (a certification tool) with electronic signatures
  • Provide a means for employees to disclose information to key members of an organization
  • Create a question and answer document for multiple uses within an organization such as questionnaires, surveys, disclosures, checklists, assessments and exams
  • Assess employee knowledge of distributed materials with scoring capabilities to test the level of understanding
  • Leverage existing documents, policies, and procedures to produce custom courses tailored to fit an organization’s unique needs
  • Maintain auditable tracking and reporting to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements

As you read through the list, you will notice that each addresses a different pain point, and each demonstrates the value an automated system offers.

Is your learning management system part of the solution?

In his blog post, 5 Way an LMS Can Boost Compliance and non-Compliance Training, Faraaz Farshori explores how a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) assists with course management and certification. Furthermore, an LMS also can generate reports, integrate custom content with off-the-shelf material and address any security concerns.

Using Percipio Compliance to be audit-ready

The technology to ameliorate compliance obstacles is available. Percipio Compliance, Skillsoft’s advanced learning management system that combines leading compliance content and a modern UX with robust functionality to deliver an engaging user experience while meeting complex compliance needs.

Percipio Compliance gives:

  • Access to one of the largest selections of Legal and Workplace Safety & Health training courses through Skillsoft Compliance Solutions.
  • Comprehensive filtering and data export options to support a wide range of compliance reporting needs. Administrators can run reports for multiple groups or individual employees for an instant view of status and training progress. Additionally, administrators can also create and save customized reports and configure emails to run automatically at defined intervals, with training results sent to line managers or supervisors to help drive training completions.
  • Administrators the ability to assign training to individual users or defined user groups, which they can create based on demographics such as job role, corporate division, or geographic location.

Andrew Nickolls is the Director for Compliance Solutions at Skillsoft EMEA.