“DOING THE RIGHT THING”
by Susan Melony, ©2018
(Mar. 15, 2018) — Regardless of whether you are a new entrepreneur just starting your business or have been running your small business for some time, you should know that accomplishing your goals to grow your business requires much patience, effort, and dedication.
But something else it requires is something that is too often overlooked: meeting the compliance requirements set by state and federal governmental agencies.
While this may not exactly be an exciting topic in comparison to tips on how to innovate your business or attract new customers, it’s still something that is very important to ensuring your success over the long term. As a result, you cannot afford to overlook it.
Here are the top tips to ensure better compliance in your small business:
Raise Awareness About Compliance With Your Employees
The very first thing you can do is to raise basic awareness about company compliance with your employees. The best way to go about this is through employee training.
All small businesses and large corporations alike are directly impacted by laws and regulations set by the local, state, and federal government. This is exactly why employees will benefit from being informed on what these laws and regulations are and how they can be complaint with them.
Take note that employee training does not require developing or acquiring an extremely expansive array of training materials. Rather, it can be as simple as taking the time to sit down with your employees and having a discussion on government laws and regulations, conflicts of interests, procedures on running the business, and so on.
Write Up A Compliance Manual or Employee Handbook
A compliance manual or employee handbook of some kind can essentially serve as a reference guide for employees to when they need information on company policy and governmental laws.
Examples of what else you can include in your compliance manual include policies on equipment use in your business, your anti-harassment policy, company values, and a Code of Ethics.
Also note that your compliance manual can be a continuous work-in-progress that evolves over time, and it does not need to be a rigid document that never changes under any circumstances.
Reward Employee Adherence To Company Policies
Finally, integrity from your employees and their adherence to your policies should not go unnoticed. Make it clear to them that their conduct and adherence to company and government policies is a component of their performance that will be measured and eventually rewarded at a specified time.
This is easily the most effective way to motivate your employees to compliance adherence because they will naturally work to be rewarded by doing the right thing consistently. Furthermore, it helps them to identify with the values of your company and to help reinforce those values into their coworkers and new employees as well.
Ensuring Better Compliance In Your Small Business
Encouraging employee integrity, ethics, and compliance in your business are all essential to ensuring success in the future.
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Susan is a writer, blogger, marketer, and entrepreneur based in Kansas City.