Compliance Perspectives

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

Sexual harassment cases are always difficult, all the more so at the United Nations. The organization has more than 120,000 employees and literally spans the globe. What’s considered acceptable behavior in one culture is not in another, and, of course, standards of behavior keep rising.

In this podcast, Cedric Bourgeois (Principal Investigator with UNESCO) and Katrina Campbell (Campbell Ethics Consulting and Assistant Professor at Rutgers University), explain that the UN, like countless other organizations, has had to evolve its own practices for managing allegations of harassment, particularly when it came to handling of the victim. Traditionally the person making an allegation was treated as just one element of an investigation. Now the UN has adopted a victim-first point of view.

Other changes at the UN include the hiring of more women as investigators, seeing thorough harassment investigations as a part of being an employer of choice and recognizing that this is a long-term process.

Listen in to learn more about what the UN has been doing in this important and sensitive area, as well as lessons for your own organization.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

Few things send shivers down the spines of compliance officers more than reports that one of their own has been found personally liable for wrongdoing at their organization.

And while some have tried to increase those fears, Arielle Swartz Tobin, an associate in the Dallas office of Jones Day, wants to allay them.  As she explains in this podcast, most of the fears are unfounded.  Individual liability is generally rare and a very low risk for compliance officers in well-established compliance programs and who are trying to get it right.

So what about these cases people see in the news?  They tend, she reports, to be people who were knowingly complicit in the wrongdoing, or who had been warned of deficiencies and did not do enough to remedy them.

There is also a third category:  individuals with an ostrich problem, who tend to stick their head in the sand when there is wrongdoing.

So what should a good compliance officer do?  First, he or should relax.  But, it’s also wise to take some precautions.  For one, ensure the compliance role is scoped out and defined, especially if you are at a small organization and wearing multiple hats.  Second, make sure the lines of communication are clear and that compliance-related information is getting where it needs to.  Third address red flags.  And, as always, document, document, document.

Listen in to learn more about the risks of individual liability and what you can do to diminish it even further.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

No matter what the size of the organization, you need to have a compliance program these days. But for smaller organizations, that can be difficult to do, given the reduced resources.

It is far from impossible, though, explains Tracy E. Tracy, Vice President, Compliance and Legal at NovuHealth. You just have to think strategically.

As she explains in this podcast that includes:

* Starting by understanding the laws and regulations that govern your business

* Gaining support of inside and outside counsel

* Embracing the basics of the seven elements in the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines

* Assessing your risks

* Signing up “engaged collaborators”

* Having a willingness to be flexible

* Taking a roll-up-your -sleeves approach

* Looking to past audit activity

* Working with customers so that they understand how your organization works and have reasonable expectations

Listen in also to learn what taking a “snout to tail” approach means and how it can help small organizations, and large ones as well.

And, for additional ideas for smaller organizations be sure to check out the SCCE publication A Compliance & Ethics Program on a Dollar a Day:  How Small Companies Can Have Effective Programs.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

Back in 2019 Samantha Kelen, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Cardinal innovations Healthcare and Lisa Beth Lentini Walker, CEO and Founder of Lumen Worldwide Endeavors, proposed a session for the 2020 SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute on recession-proofing your career.  By the time they conducted it in September a theoretical exercise had become an all-too-practical one.  These days, like most everyone else in business, compliance professionals have experienced serious erosion in job security.

In this career-essential podcast they explain both how to prepare for and find a new opportunity while also ensuring your current employer understands the value you and the compliance team provides.  That includes keeping a business mindset and knowing the right language to use based on your audience.

They also provide some unexpected advice, including checking employment ads on the SCCE (and HCCA) job boards and elsewhere, too, even if you aren’t on the market.  The job listings can tell you what employers are looking for these days and the skills you need both for finding new work and strengthening the program where you are now.

Also included in this podcast are tips for improving your resume and advice on how to improve your networking.

Listen in for valuable advice on improving your current compliance program and your chances of finding a new position, even in tough times like these.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

Tying human rights to compliance programs may sound like a new idea, but as Michele Crymes of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) explains in this podcast, it has a surprisingly long history. Wage and hour laws were and are human rights issues.  Rules about conflict minerals have roots in human rights as well, and more enforcement is likely coming.

According to Michele, organizations should think of human rights less as a new area of compliance and more as an extension of existing efforts and with more nuance. Modern slavery and human trafficking, for example, has broadened its existing scope into examining many types of behavior including wage theft and the treatment of migrant labor.

Listen in as she explains the current legal framework and what is expected to come next, including protection for women and children. And, as is so often the case, she shares the need to pay close attention to your supply chain.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

With an increased focus on the relationship between compliance and the Board, compliance professionals need to better understand the key factors that affect governance structures where they work.

To better understand governance structures in the Gulf Cooperation Council region we spoke with Dr. Ashraf Gamal El Din, the CEO of Hawkamah, a governance institute in the region. In this podcast he explains that overall the governance model in GCC Is similar to what is found in the Anglo-Saxon model, but there are key differences. Some companies have an executive committee that acts like a board. In Saudi Arabia, members of the audit committee are elected by shareholders.

More importantly the interest in compliance varies greatly by jurisdiction. Where enforcement is lax, the compliance team is not likely to get the board’s attention. At the same time in regions where there is enhanced director liability for wrongdoing the board may be singularly focused on compliance, even to the detriment of strategy and risk.

Listen in as he explains the issues and how compliance teams can best secure the board’s support.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

When it comes to business and corporate culture today, there are clear haves and have nots out there, reports Eric Pinckert, Co-Founder and Managing Director of BrandCulture, a firm that, as its name suggests, focuses on brand and culture development. Some organizations are doing very well despite the pandemic, and their values and cultures are the stronger for it. Others are faring less well, and as a result their culture and values are under stress.

In this podcast he recommends that companies take advantage of six key levers for strengthening their culture:

* Leadership

* Structure, systems and processes

* The work from home environment

* Symbolism

* Rewards and recognition

* Communications

Listen in as he discusses how to use all these levers and dives deep into what makes for better communications when it comes to values and culture. He also discusses the balance between capitalizing on the opportunity created by a crisis and acting too cavalierly.

Finally, and most provocatively, he takes on what he finds to be generic organizational values and argues for values that are more definitional of what the organization stands for.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

With healthcare relying so heavily on vendors to manage data the risks of a breach are enormous.  According to Gerry Blass, President and CEO of ComplyAssistant, a recent survey found that 63% of cyberattacks were through third parties.

In this podcast he provides insight into how to assess and manage the risk of breaches through business associates.  To best manage the risk, it’s best to begin before signing the contract: that’s when vendors are most willing to allow you to conduct a technical and administrative assessment of their security.  Be sure, he advises, to ask to see their SOC 2 report.

On an ongoing basis do an assessment at least once a year, more frequently for higher risk entities.

And always look at issues such as:

* If the third party has downstream business associates, are they located in the US or in countries with different data rules?

* Are their employees accessing the data remotely?

* What controls are in place if an employee is terminated?

Listen in to learn more about which third parties hold the most and least risk, and what you can do about it.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

While the pandemic rages it is challenge enough to keep up, but Christian Hunt, a former compliance officer and found of the firm HumanRisk, is already looking to the post-pandemic world and the likely transformations in how we will work for many years to come.

He sees the pandemic as accelerating changes we have already seen while also creating additional challenges. The embrace of technology and remote workers are being deepened, as is the pressure on workers to deliver. At the same time, there is more focus than ever on ethics, as businesses struggle to determine what is the right thing to do for their employees and customers, in addition to the bottom line.

As we roll with these changes, Christian suggests that compliance teams need to focus even more on their communication skills. As a profession that depends on persuasion, it’s essential to better understand how to persuade more effectively, especially while using the new technologies that have proliferated.

At the same time, we need to continue to explore how the use of data can improve compliance programs. That includes determining what data we have, don’t have and don’t really need.

Listen in to learn more about how to start positioning yourself and your program for the post-pandemic economy.

Post By: Adam Turteltaub

It’s a new Zoom-filled world out there, and compliance teams are not immune from it. In fact, to succeed they have to embrace it.

To understand how best to operate in this environment, we talked with Kyle Zamcheck, executive communications coach and co-founder of Listenly.

She explains that there are a new set of opportunities and constraints posed by the world of video conferencing. There is now one focal point of conversation, side chats are more difficult, and everyone is now equidistant from the presenter.

The key is to leverage these points to your advantage by bringing what she calls more “delight” to the audience, focusing on their perspective and keeping the conversation engaging. She suggests looking for different ways of presenting information, such as using objects instead of slides, encouraging people to move during the session, and watching your own gestures. Remember those big arm movements may not be captured by the camera.

Listen in to learn more about the importance of redundancy, authenticity and other techniques for mastering this medium.