In the business world, compliance refers to how well a company adheres to federal and local laws, regulations and best practices specific to its industry. There are many ways to measure compliance, and both managers from within the company and professionals outside of the company can be authorized to judge whether or not a business is doing what it is supposed to do.
5 Ways Businesses Can Stay Compliant
To remain compliant, businesses need to adhere to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards. Here are five ways that businesses can remain compliant.
1. By Offering Managers Educational Opportunities
Rules, regulations and best practices for businesses are constantly changing, so it is important that those who are in charge of a company remain up to date with what they are supposed to be doing. For example, business leaders can attend webinars and read publications that provide information on trending compliance issues. When managers provide employees with additional training, it has the added benefit of making the employees feel valued by the company, which can boost productivity levels and improve employee retention.
2. By Investing in Software
When it comes to compliance, the most important piece is making sure that business leaders are aware of the regulations that they must follow. However, when possible, it is beneficial to automate some of the processes involved in following those guidelines and meeting the required conventions.
GxP compliance software, for instance, can be helpful to certain industries that need to maintain organized records in case someone audits them for adherence to following rules and regulations.
For example, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States has to keep track of numerous drugs in various stages of testing and approval from the Food and Drug Administration. By having a secure, cloud-based platform to store this information that only certain people can access, pharmaceutical companies can better keep track of different medications.
3. By Meeting With Industry Leaders
Discussing compliance issues with others in the industry can be even more helpful than watching a webinar or reading an article, which is generally a one-sided activity. There are many ways that executives and other employees can meet other people in their industry, including by:
- Attending conferences where people can mingle.
- Going to events geared toward professionals in general, or geared toward those who work in a specific type of business.
- Joining a trade association.
Making a point to talk with other people who have an interest in compliance not only boosts managers’ knowledge of regulatory issues but helps to spread awareness of their company. This, in turn, can boost the number of clients or customers who seek the company out for products and services.
4. By Hiring Compliance Experts
It can be overwhelming for managers to learn and stay up to date on all of the rules and regulations involved in their industry. Managers and other full-time employees have other duties and obligations to perform in order to keep their businesses afloat. In these cases, it can be helpful to bring on a person or team to go over items such as record-keeping in the company and maybe even observe how employees do their jobs on a typical day. Even if managers only hire experts to come in on a short-term basis, those professionals can provide valuable insight specifically tailored to their company.
5. By Properly Vetting Employees
Even if managers of a company do everything else right in order to remain in compliance, an untrustworthy or disgruntled employee can undermine all of that. Companies should carefully note each phase of their hiring processes and vet their employees appropriately according to the amount of responsibility that each employee will have. For example, hiring managers would be wise to run a background check on a new hire who will have access to highly confidential data to help ensure that they are an honest person who does not harbor any ill will against the company.
There are many reasons why staying compliant is important for businesses. Companies that do not adhere to best practices or, even worse, do not follow the law may be subject to disciplinary action and lose the trust and respect of their clientele. Luckily, there are many steps that managers and executives of companies can take to help ensure that they remain on the good side of rules and regulatory measures.
