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Benchmarking: Ethics & Compliance Training

By Randi Morrison posted 08-16-2018 07:29 AM

  
According to NAVEX Global's recently-released 2018 Ethics & Compliance Training Benchmark Report, 73% of organizations provide E&C training to their boards - most commonly via in person or live training - up an astounding nearly 30% from last year's report. The data reflects responses from over 1,200 respondents globally (75% headquartered in North America) who influence or manage their organization's E&C programs, as well as detailed responses from the 801 respondents who are actively managing or influencing their company's E&C training function.


Additional noteworthy findings include:

  • Respondents identified executive buy-in and training as the most effective methods of pursuing a culture of ethics & respect, which was cited as the #1 E&C program objective.
  • The number of code of conduct/internal policy breaches, analysis of internal audit findings, conducting exit interviews/measuring employee turnover, and employee surveys are the most common techniques used to measure E&C program effectiveness.
  • In general, respondents rated the performance of their E&C programs highly. Notably, most respondents (56%) rated board reporting & engagement as good or excellent; an additional 26% rated this area of their E&C program as average.
  • Increasing awareness of the company's policies and regulations and improving or increasing E&C training activities were identified as the top two program priorities this year. Increasing board and senior leadership awareness and involvement in compliance was ranked 7th on the priority list out of 10 enumerated E&C activities. 
  • Lack of executive buy-in was ranked last (i.e., least concerning) in terms of E&C training challenges. Limited hours available for training and insufficient resources (budget & people) were ranked as the top two challenges.
  • Changing/updated regulations, internal investigation reports, and hotline program reports are the top information sources used to help make decisions about E&C training.
  • The top annual training topics for boards and senior management are conflicts of interest, bribery & corruption, the code of conduct, and cybersecurity/data privacy. Notably, workplace harassment doesn't (yet) rank in the top tier of training topics for the board, senior management or non-managers. The report advises that boards should receive training on more of the core E&S topics (and more frequently).

See also LRN's recent "The Role of Boards in Overseeing Corporate Ethics & Compliance," which presents a different perspective on board E&C engagement and oversight based on 26 interviews with largely dissatisfied USA and European-headquartered mega-cap (or comparable private and NFP) company Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers; NAVEX Global's 2018 Hotline and Incident Management Benchmark Report; and numerous additional resources on our Compliance & Ethics and Whistleblowers pages.

This post first appeared in this week's Society Alert!
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