Top 5 Compliance Predictions for 2021
2020 has kept Ethics & Compliance professionals on their toes. With the new year right around the corner, here are five anticipated compliance predictions for 2021:
Working remotely and virtually is here to stay.
COVID-19 forced many organizations to learn how to implement programs and technologies necessary to allow their employees to be productive from home. Companies like REI are setting the tone by replacing their traditional centralized headquarters with smaller satellite campuses and remote employees. I think others will follow. With a larger virtual workforce in place, Compliance Officers will have to get creative with communicating, training, and connecting with employees.
Technology will continue to be a Compliance Officer’s best friend.
When you have employees in the office, at home, or even still stuck in another country due to COVID-19, putting off the use of technology is no longer an option. Over the past 15 or so years in the GRC space, I've seen technology slowly be embraced by lawyers and Compliance Officers. 2021 will be the year that slow embrace becomes a full-on hug. Regulators are expecting to see compliance programs "adequately resourced for the companies’ risk profile." With many companies still feeling the financial impact of COVID-19, budgets probably aren't getting more significant for the compliance team. If anything, they may be getting smaller. This means compliance teams will need to start working smarter by leveraging technology. The right technology will increase compliance teams' connection with their employees, drive program awareness, and make training a dispersed workforce a realistic goal.
Corporate Compliance, HR, and IT Compliance will join forces.
In my experience, Human Resources, Corporate Compliance, and IT Compliance Departments work very independently of each other, often to the point of existing in silos. Those days need to be long gone if companies want to survive and protect their organization. Cybersecurity attacks have been happening for a long time, and more are coming. Companies are going to have to remain vigilant. These key departments will have to team up and drive home the message that, just like safety, cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility. I would push HR and Compliance Departments to encourage their employees to report potential information security concerns through their hotline program. Although they may not be the one to solve the issue, they can bring it to the attention of the CTO quickly. Most employees know who their HR Manager or Compliance Officer is and how to reach the team through their multiple communication channels, but they may not know who to go to if their computer gets ransomware while working at home.
GRC vendors will have to step up their game.
Increasing regulations, financial challenges, and the multitude of curveballs the universe is throwing at the world have put the pressure on Compliance Departments to catch a moving target while blindfolded. Not an impossible challenge, but a heck of a lot easier when you have others to help you. At a minimum, Compliance Departments expect their GRC vendors to provide reliable solutions and service. However, the minimum is no longer good enough. If GRC vendors want to retain their clients and gain new ones, they will have to go above and beyond. CCO's and GC's expect fast and reliable service that's there when they need it. Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean a hotline case won’t get submitted. Compliance teams can't risk using outdated case technology or working with a vendor that won't take their call. People expect excellent service, convenience, user-friendly solutions, and continuous improvement to those solutions and not getting nickle-and-dimed. Vendors serving the compliance market won't be able to rely on heavy marketing alone anymore.Culture will help keep companies alive.
A company's culture will continue to be its number one source of security, especially in hard times. In the words of Nat King Cole, "And so I'm offering this simple phrase. To kids from one to ninety-two. Although it's been said many times, many ways…" Culture beats strategy. Culture is a competitive differentiator. A company’s culture isn't merely about the cool perks the company provides, like allowing employees to bring dogs to work or free snacks. It's about how your employees behave and what they believe. This is what makes culture such a powerful force. For those companies with weak cultures, if you haven't started already, 2021 will be the year to repair it, or you may not make it to 2022. Just like in a 12-step program, the first step is to admit it. Admit that your corporate culture needs work and then uncover what's allowing those damaging behaviors to live on. I know confronting your leadership team and employees about their beliefs and behaviors may be challenging and feel like a Herculean task, but your efforts will pay off. A healthy corporate culture will drive results, and results will bring organizational success.
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MEET THE AUTHOR
Stephanie Farmer is a seasoned ethics and compliance (E&C) professional. She has earned an MA in both Business and Professional and Applied Ethics and is a graduate of The Ethics & Compliance Initiative Managing Ethics in an Organization Program. Prior to and during her E&C career, Stephanie served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and the North Carolina Air National Guard.
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