Ascendis Blog

Three Steps to Creating an Ethical Workplace with LMS Training

Gone are the days when training and development were once considered an optional benefit or a “nice to have,” and only the most forward-looking employers provided it to the most promising employees. Over the past two decades, learning management has proved to be necessary to a company’s success. However, when company restructuring is looming, and budget cuts are necessary, employee training is often the first to go and is not viewed as an investment, but as an expense.

One category within corporate training has proved to be recession-proof: ethics and compliance training. This is because most companies would prefer to spend money proactively to avoid paying out huge sums to settle safety, harassment or discrimination cases. When it comes to compliance training, there is a direct link to an intelligent, well-trained staff and productivity.

Here are three simple ways to ensure employee compliance and boost morale:

1. Consider Your Audience
When faced with a challenge, your employees should be able to guide themselves down an established path to solve the issue. For that reason, training should be geared to the level of the employee. For example, individual contributors will not face the same responsibilities as the executive team managers.

The following elements should be included in your compliance training:

• Information on the policies and procedures of the program
  
• Documents of the organization’s code of ethics and code of conduct
  
• The creation of an overall awareness and understanding of compliance in all employees
  
• A review of the applicable laws related to compliance
  
• A discussion of actual compliance dilemmas that employees have faced in their jobs
  
• A series of hypothetical compliance dilemmas used to create an interactive training environment with a discussion of possible solutions
  
• An outline and discussion of specific risk areas common in the company or industry

2. Walk Through the Process

Employees already involved in operating processes – or newly assigned processes – must be trained in the operating procedures, with emphasis on specific hazards, emergency operations (including shutdown), or safe work practices applicable to the employee’s job tasks.

Refresher training should be provided at least every three years (and more often if necessary) to each employee involved in operating a process to ensure that the employee adheres to, and understands the current operating procedures, of processes.

3. Record Keeping

It is important for employers to document all compliance training events. This record keeping can also supply an answer to one of the first questions a compliance representative will ask: “Was the employee properly trained how to do the job?” Be sure you can answer, “Yes!”

Utilize the Ascendis Leadership Academy for Ethics Training

There are many advantages when it comes to ethical training and compliance solutions, and with the help of the Ascendis Leadership Academy, not only can employees learn at their own pace, they are also able to ask questions, learn with peers, join communities, access job aids, connect with subject matter experts and create personal learning paths. Inspire a culture of learning in your organization by subscribing to the Ascendis Leadership Academy. With our multimedia online training content, you and your team members can enhance your skills in three competency groups: Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Organizations to define a successful future of leadership.