In our early years of education, we were taught to follow the rules. Doing so means we’re good citizens and ensures we don’t end up with criminal charges.
Just like at the individual level, following the rules when running a business ensures that you’re a responsible organization.
Importance of Compliance in Business
Compliance ensures that organizations act responsibly on how they manage their business, staff, and customers. Some of its benefits include:
Avoidance of Criminal Charges
Compliance ensures that your organization complies with industry-wide, state, and federal regulations. Failure to comply means non-observance of the law.
When you don’t observe these regulations, you could face hefty penalties. Worse, the state might force your business to shut down.
Improved Productivity
Ensuring compliance with employee benefits, safety, and wages ensures better employee attraction and retention. Employees are more motivated to work when they feel that the organization compensates them well and protects them from various work risks.
Positive Reputation
The reputation of an organization is essential for business survival. When you face a court case for failure to comply with a regulation, your customers lose trust in the company. They might stop buying your products or hiring you for your services.
Ensuring Compliance Within Your Company
Here’s how you can ensure your business’ success while staying compliant with relevant policies and procedures:
Learn the Relevant Guidelines and Procedures
Your business will be encountering a variety of legal requirements, like:
- Industry-specific, like workplace health and safety
- General business requirements, like permits, compensation, benefits, and tax
Make sure to cover every aspect of your business and pull out the related regulations and guidelines. Read up on these requirements and assess your business to identify areas of non-compliance.
Form a Compliance Team
It can be challenging to track a variety of business compliance requirements, so it’s essential to create a team dedicated to managing compliance. It should be a separate department headed by a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). This team will monitor guidelines, control issues, and coordinate with different departments to ensure compliance.
If you can’t create an in-house team, hire a third-party compliance team. For construction companies, a safety consultant assesses your site and determines areas for improvement.
Create a Compliance Kit
Compliance kits consist of extensive databases and software that help your team monitor performance management, compliance issues, and risk management factors. There are a variety of vendors out there, so you can choose which software meets your needs.
Do Regular Checks
An in-house team can conduct regular compliance checks. However, it is recommended that a third party checks your organization for compliance. That way, there is no bias involved and that the aspects of business can be seen from a fresh perspective.
These regular checks identify potential risks so that you won’t be caught off guard when running into a potential problem. Once you receive the recommendations from the audit, address the issues right away.
Following industry-wide, state, and federal regulations may seem time-consuming. However, compliance ensures that your business is managed responsibly. Once you’ve complied with all the necessary policies and procedures, it will improve your business reputation and employee productivity.