1. Brighter Monday, HR Forum Muthoni Nyoike 28th September, 2018
Recognizing and Rewarding employees the right way, to increase productivity in the workplace
Brighter Monday, HR Forum
Muthoni Nyoike
28th September, 2018

2. What is compliance?
Compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law.
Regulatory compliance describes the goal that organizations aspire to achieve in their efforts to ensure that they are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws, policies, and regulations.
~ Wikipedia

3. Why do you need a compliance program??
To prevent misconduct.
To detect misconduct.
To align corporate policies with laws, rules, and regulations.
To protect the organization from risk exposure (regulatory / financial / compliance).
To protect brand image and reputation.
To build a sustainable business (ethical business decisions).

4. So….What drives compliance?

6. How does culture influence compliance?
In a survey of over 2 million employees’ responses on corporate culture and misconduct, the average compliance program has improved perceptions of culture by less than 1% since the late 2000s, which translates into little decrease in observed misconduct.
~ CEB, now Gartner.
“For most companies, efforts to improve culture start at the top with senior executives, ensuring they exemplify strong ethics in interactions and communications with their teams,”.
~ Brian Lee, legal and compliance practice leader at CEB, now Gartner.
Of the items of integrity surveyed, trust in colleagues ranks the lowest by a wide margin across all position levels — senior executives, managers, individual contributors and front-line staff.
This is alarming given the tremendous impact people around us — peers, colleagues, bosses — have on what we think and how we behave.
The key differentiator between strong and weak corporate cultures is climate i.e. practices and procedures employees follow and the signals they receive about what behaviors are rewarded and valued.
Only 25% of employees trust that their peers engage in and model the right ethical behaviors.
69% of employees in strong climates report trust in their colleagues, a striking difference from the average 25% among all employees.
Employees working in strong climates are also 90% less likely to observe misconduct.
Almost 75% of employees work in organizations with weak climates, lessening the effect any integrity-building efforts by compliance have on the business,

7. How do you build the right culture?
Help employees understand what good behaviors looks like with specific examples that enable each employee to see how to exhibit these behaviors in their daily workflows.
Ensure managers send consistent, strong messages to their direct reports about what positive ethical behavior looks like.   
Reward positive behavior, and do so visibly.
Create environments that enable small teams and groups of employees to engage with one another and give feedback on positive ethical behaviors.
Your organization won’t have a strong climate if employees only understand how to avoid misconduct. Knowing the wrong thing to do doesn’t necessarily translate into doing the right thing.
Managers tend to overestimate the effectiveness of compliance messages they send their teams. For example, a manager might think that by announcing an “open-door policy” that they are doing the right thing, but they fail to actually do anything positive to invite or welcome a sensitive conversation.
Many compliance programs already acknowledge the importance of disciplining those who exhibit bad behaviors, but tend to overlook the equally important act of recognizing positive behaviors across the company.
Create environments that enable small teams and groups of employees to engage with one another on positive ethical behaviors. Circulating stories of employees doing the right thing not only encourages them to keep up the good work, but also incentivizes others to do the same.

8. Rewards and Recognition
Why implement?
Incentives help drive behavior: The simple proposition, “you get to keep your job if you don’t break the rules” will not be enough….”
Recognition in this instance is for outstanding performance and leadership in the area of compliance and ethics.
Recognition is not for what employees think or believe, but what they say and do to promote a culture of compliance, implement the code of conduct and encourage an ethical environment where concerns can be raised free of the fear of retaliation.
Rewards & Recognition can be used as an effective communication tool i.e. the stories of the compliance heroes and what conduct leads to advancement in the organization become part of the culture of an organization….

9. Rewards and Recognition Cont…
Driving Factors
Changing habits and behavior requires changing recognitions and rewards. People in organizations, we have known for a century, tend to act in response to being recognized and rewarded — everything else is preaching The moment they realize that the organization rewards for the right behavior they will accept it.
~ Peter Drucker, Management Expert
Make integrity, ethics and compliance part of the promotion, compensation and evaluation processes as well. For at the end of the day, the most effective way to communicate that ‘doing the right thing’ is a priority, is to reward it. Conversely, if employees are led to believe that, when it comes to compensation and career advancement, all that counts is short term profitability, and that cutting ethical corners is an acceptable way of getting there, they’ll perform to that measure.
~ Stephen Cutler, Director, Division of Enforcement of the SEC
If bad actors or those with questionable ethics are rewarded and promoted, the tone at the top of the organization and the culture throughout the organization will likely lead to similar behavior at all levels of the organization. By contrast, if those who champion compliance and ethics are selected as leaders and are seen by other employees as being rewarded and recognized, that then becomes the model for success in that organization
~ Joseph Murphy, Director of Public Policy, SCCE

10. Compliance Rewards & Recognition Cont…
How can we Recognize and Reward Employees
Eligibility for Promotions
Small Tokens of appreciation e.g. medals, trophies etc.
Certificates / Letters of appreciation.
Publishing stories / Shining the spotlight on Compliance Heroes.
CEO Awards and Appreciation.
Lunch / Dinner vouchers
Cash Prizes / Bonuses

11. How do you implement Reward & Recognition?
HR & Talent Management: Include Compliance questions as part of the recruitment process.
Include specific behaviors that promote compliance and ethics as part of the employee performance objectives and make them a part of the basis for the evaluation.
Offer employees explicit incentives to adhere to compliance. The most effective way to communicate that ‘doing the right thing’ is a priority is to reward it explicitly. In this way, integrity, ethics and compliance are embedded in the promotion, compensation and evaluation processes.
To be able to use compliance as a performance measure, it must be translated into an actionable and measurable concept.
It must be simple (e.g. explainable, understandable).
It must be genuinely aligned with the company’s values.
Implement penal measures e.g. claw back clauses in employment contracts and follow through.