Making sure that your business is fully compliant with the law can be both complex and tedious. Ever-changing regulations don’t make this process any easier but it’s important that you are aware of these, otherwise, you may find yourself facing legal action.
To help you understand what is required, we’ve come up with our top tips to ensure you are compliant, which will benefit both your business and your workforce.
Make sure employees follow procedures
There’s no point in having regulations if your employees don’t follow them properly. Sometimes, policies may not be easy to implement and some workers may be reluctant to change practices that they have become accustomed to.
It’s highly important that all staff members are provided with sufficient training on new procedures. There should also be a readily available company policy document that clearly states how to follow procedures. A reward system may be beneficial for getting employees to abide by the rules, with violations and sanctions for those who fail to comply.
Ensuring your workers follow regulations is most important in certain professions, especially those that require the use of heavy and dangerous machinery. If you fail to carry out the necessary policy changes or do not enrol adequate training material, employees may become injured and look for compensation for the damages sustained.
Staying on track with new laws and regulations
Compliance is a continuous process of staying up to date on current legal requirements, identifying what areas impact your business and changing your policy accordingly. Being prepared for upcoming changes will put you in good stead, and you don’t risk becoming overwhelmed once something is suddenly enforced.
There is software that can assist with this process, which automatically detects any significant changes in legislation so you don’t have to.
Conduct regular internal audits
Carrying out frequent audits is a great way of uncovering ineffective procedures, including ones that employees are following. Audits should typically focus on the regulatory, operational, technological and financial aspects of your organisation.
It is also highly important that the individual conducting the internal audit is independent when reviewing compliance and employs generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS).
Outsource the work to professionals
If you’re a relatively small business, you may not have the means or resources to hire a legal team, or may be too busy to keep up with everything on your own. In these instances, it may be worth hiring specialists or consultants to assist and ensure the organisation is transparent in its operations.
Additionally, this means that you are able to ask for advice when necessary and only need to pay for the time spent on updating the compliance policy. These specialists also tend to use high-tech software, which saves you unnecessary costs and means the work is up to standard.
