5 Ways to Keep up with Changing Compliance

5 Ways to Keep up with Changing Compliance

Businesses must constantly deal with changing compliance regulations, especially in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance. New rules and policies are being introduced from time to time, and organisations must adhere to these. So, how can businesses remain compliant amidst the changing policies? Below, find out some ways to keep up with changing compliance.

  1. Keep an Eye on Regulatory Websites

One of the best ways to keep up with changing compliance is to monitor regulatory agency websites, which are the sources of these regulations. Agencies such as EPA and OSHA will publish policy changes on their websites, so refer to these sites to find out the latest. Regularly check the websites of these agencies and see if there are recent changes that you have to implement.

Manually checking websites is not always efficient. You will also have no way of knowing if something immediately comes up. In this case, you can rely on the FSS feed reader, which automatically scans and curate updates from various regulatory agency websites, including news outlets and blogs. To use this feature, add the websites to your feed reader. It will then read updates as they are delivered. You will find many feed reader tools online, but the most popular ones are Newsblur, Feeder, and Feedly.

Another way you can stay updated is to subscribe to blogs and newsletters of these regulatory agencies. That way, when something new comes up, you will receive an email to inform you of it.

  1. Attend Seminars/Conferences

Attending business seminars and conferences may cost you time and money, but it comes with many advantages. One of these is being able to keep up with changing compliance. Attending business events will not only allow you to learn new things about your industry, but it's also one way of keeping up to date with the latest changes in business regulations.

No matter how busy you are, take some time off your busy schedule to attend conferences, seminars, or web training, especially those that will inform you regarding new regulations in your industry and how to implement these regulations. If you really cannot find time, read summaries prepared by industry professionals.

If you want to know the very latest changes in business regulations in your field before they are even out in the public, you should consider attending seminars or conferences. Some of these events will invite representatives from government agencies who may be able to share any upcoming changes in regulations.

  1. Take up Compliance Training

Compliance training is training mandated by legislation. The aim is to educate you on business laws or regulations applicable to your industry. These laws and regulations were put in place to ensure safety in the workplace and protect the welfare of employees. Taking up compliance training courses is the best way to keep up with the latest trends in your business.

Implementing proper compliance training programs helps to ensure proper governance in an organisation. It also minimises risk and protects your business reputation by offering a safe environment for your employees to work in, resulting in improved productivity. The main objective of compliance training is to let everyone in your organisation be aware of the latest business compliance regulations. As a business owner, you are responsible for the safety of your employees and the general public. It covers various aspects, from maintaining a safe workplace free from discrimination and harassment to protecting consumer data and privacy. Failure to comply with these regulations can come with many consequences. Aside from paying a hefty amount of penalties, your business reputation will be damaged.

Compliance training should be a key component in the risk management system of your organisation. Aside from minimising risks, compliance training ensures a safer workplace resulting to increase productivity. Since your employees are safe, absenteeism will go down. Furthermore, it secures insurance for your organisation and prevents any risk of a potential lawsuit.

  1. Make Sure Employees are Following Compliance

Your company compliance policy will be useless if your employees do not follow it. Changes in policies are especially difficult to adapt to the workforce, and many employees are hesitant to embrace the changes and modify the way they do things. Thus, one way to ensure employees are following compliance is to involve HR in the process.

It's important to communicate any changes in compliance and procedures to everyone in the organisation. Ensure these are well-documented and readily available for everyone to access both offline and online. You must also make sure that employees understand the reason behind the changes in these policies. More importantly, make the employees undergo compliance training. The training will teach them how they can properly adapt these procedures.

The compliance training for employees must be compulsory and continuous. Not only should each member of the organisation participate in compliance training, but it should become a regular event for the organisation. If properly implemented, compliance training lays the groundwork for a healthy work environment where everyone can openly discuss issues and address potential problems before they arise.

  1. Utilise Useful Software

It can be complicated to keep up with changing compliance if you do not have the right tools. Thus, organisations should consider investing in the right compliance software to help them operate in accordance with the law and minimise risks in the workplace. The right compliance software comes with built-in tools to organise documents and automatically develop audit trails to prove compliance.

Every decision you make for the business can significantly affect profitability. With the help of business compliance software, you can perform the entire process online. These cloud-based systems will minimise the need to handle significant paperwork and prevent any risk of losing important documents.

The software will allow everything to be digital, which makes transferring documents and files easier from one department to another. Moving files will not be complicated, even if you need to send them overseas. With compliance software, you can generate reports faster, saving you both time and money.