Compliance tracking and risk management are huge concerns for all businesses. It feels like pretty much every week you hear about how someone messed up.
You know when you hear these stories, someone somewhere failed to stay compliant with some standard or regulation.
Sometimes it’s something small and simple that doesn’t make it past local news, but it can also be a huge messy deal that ruins the reputation of the whole company.
The issues aren’t just limited to health concerns and restaurants. There are all kinds of compliance troubles you can find yourself in if you aren’t careful.
One of the big ones that can cause a lot of problems is making sure your business and employees have all the proper licenses, certifications, and training to do their jobs.
What is compliance tracking?
Compliance tracking is a key component of workforce management, and it essentially refers to the process of ensuring that all employees are following laws, regulations, and internal policies.
This includes things like keeping up with payroll taxes, making sure employees are properly trained for their roles, and being aware of any changes or updates that may need to be implemented.
Compliance tracking also helps ensure that the company is meeting the standards set by governing entities and its own policies. By using automated solutions like TimeForge, which can accurately track employee data in real-time, businesses are able to quickly identify any potential compliance issues before they become a problem.
Why is compliance tracking so important?
Compliance tracking is essential because everyone loses when compliance slips.
Customers, employees, management, investors, partners… everyone.
Issues can add up quickly, and the legal and financial consequences can be anything between a slap on the wrist to the entire business tanking.
Everyone’s jobs are at risk if the mistake is severe, especially those of the people directly involved. More important is when the consequences involve someone’s well-being.
If luck has it, no one will end up seriously hurt. This is where licenses, certifications, and training are especially important. They keep customers, employees, and everyone else safe.
Accidents and mistakes are far less likely to happen when people are qualified and actually know what they’re doing. Compliance tracking is important because no one wants to learn the hard way.
The consequences of non-compliance
Here are examples of compliance-related things no one wants learn the hard way:
- Failing to adhere to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards puts customers’ information at risk, which is a huge liability. Last year, Target and Home Depot both had huge data breaches that cost them millions of dollars.
- In Texas, selling alcohol to a minor can result in a $750 – $4,500 fine. Selling alcohol at all without a TABC license can put the seller in jail. Other states have their own laws regarding alcohol and take them very seriously.
- There are a number of different certifications and training courses required for lifeguards. A business with a swimming pool must employ certified lifeguards or post the proper warning signs. Not complying with these laws is a huge liability.
- Failure to pay taxes often leads to time spent in jail, which isn’t known to be fun.
Not complying with EEOC regulations can cost a business $50,000 or more, depending on the number of people the business employs and the offense.
These are just some of the ways that a history of non-compliance can come back to bite you.
The toilet plunger analogy
Speaking of learning the hard way; have you heard the rule about toilet plungers?
Everyone knows you have to make sure you have a toilet plunger before you need it. If you don’t, you will regret it when you’re standing in line at the store with just a toilet plunger and everyone around you knows what happened.
It’s embarrassing enough when you accidentally clog the toilet when you’re alone at home but you have a plunger and no one has to know but you. Imagine you’re having a party at your house, all your friends are there, you have to close your only bathroom, run to the store to buy a toilet plunger, AND the person who clogged the toilet was you.
Are you imagining it? That’s how it feels to get caught with compliance problems, only probably at least 1,000 times worse. Similar to compliance, if you just take care of it from the beginning, it will save you a lot of trouble and embarrassment.
Other reasons to take compliance tracking seriously
Keeping people safe and businesses out of legal trouble are pretty convincing reasons to use compliance tracking, but they aren’t the only reasons.
Imagine you’re traveling in another state and decide to try this other city’s version of your favorite fast food restaurant. If they made your favorite meal with different and lower-quality ingredients than what you get at home, you’d be pretty disappointed, right?
This is why store compliance is a thing. No one wants to disappoint their customers, so corporate offices make rules for their stores to ensure that every store meets their standards and upholds their brand.
Corporate marketing teams of well-known companies like McDonald’s, Subway, Target, and more have done marketing research and know what works best for their brand.
They aren’t picky just because they think it’s funny to make people jump through hoops. All of the details they require in stores, like menus, posters, uniforms, decorations, and even training, go into building the image they want their stores to give their customers.
To put it simply, store compliance gives a store its best chance at success by providing the necessary materials and guidelines.
To succeed, take compliance seriously
Risk management and compliance tracking are key components of running a fruitful business. Don’t allow compliance slip ups to keep you from being successful!
The best way to avoid compliance issues is to be proactive. And maybe use an HR management software with certification and compliance tracking that helps you set rules for yourself to follow, keeps track of your certifications, training, and other HR documents, and warns you that they need to be renewed before they have to be.
The right HR management software with integrated compliance tracking will help you worry less and make your business the best it can be.
