Every company has their own policies designed to protect employees from harm, accidents, and misconduct. That’s why your company should hold regular corporate compliance training to verify that teams are doing their work properly without any unnecessary risk or behavior.
Without a compliance training program, your company may be fined or sued for not adequately educating their employees. But, don’t worry! We’ll go over some of the most effective compliance training topics for your next learning session.
Compliance training covers all the rules, codes, and procedures an employee must follow. These rules come from organizations like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, your country’s legislation, and other regulatory agencies.
Regular compliance training for employees is required by companies and industry boards to make sure that everyone is making safe and ethical decisions at work. A lack of compliance training can lead to consequences like workplace accidents, lawsuits, penalties, and a poor working environment. Some compliance training examples include talks on hazard handling, workplace discrimination, and privacy policy.
To stay up to date with the most recent compliance training, here’s a list of the best compliance training topics, updated for 2024.
It never hurts to go back to basics with some general safety tips. Any workplace needs to cover how to prevent slip and fall accidents, store and use certain tools, and maintain cleanliness of their workspaces and themselves.
Depending on your industry, it can be simple or specific. For example, basic hygiene is a must for every workplace but it’s particularly important for healthcare workers to comply with at all times. A safe workplace begins with a strong foundation of the basics.
Recommended online lessons about general workplace safety:
Another general compliance training topic is your various company policies. Policies define how your employees should behave and your company’s code of conduct, like their internal practices and employee rights. As employees represent your company’s vision, mission, and culture, it’s important your teams know and comply with them – and what to do if someone’s not.
Your company may have other policies that discuss dress code, food safety, and any personal devices your workers may need to use. Disciplinary action from the company, when these policies are not followed, should also be discussed.
Recommended online lessons about company policies:
Any workplace is vulnerable to a fire emergency. That’s why it's important to go over the fire safety regulations your office has: a map of the fire exits, the fire detection and alarm system, and the dates for mandatory fire drills.
You can also discuss the most likely fires to occur at your workplace and prevention methods to minimize the risk. A good example for offices is electrical fires. Avoiding overload on outlets, unplugging devices when they’re not being used, and matching the right socket with their plug are all practices every employee can do to keep their office safe from fires.
Recommended online lessons about fire safety:
A basic knowledge of first aid can help an injured employee or colleague. Whether it's in a crisis or a small accident, a trained person can take care of others with minor injuries or illnesses, or stabilize someone’s condition until a medical professional arrives.
First aid training consists of how to identify common workplace injuries and medical emergencies, give immediate treatment, and contact the relevant medical authorities, if required. If your employees do a lot of manual labor, they are at higher risk of accidents like slips and falls. So, it's vital they’re prepared for any health-related situation that could happen.
Recommended online lessons about first aid:
Employees who work from home also need to follow company standards and practice online safety. A compliance talk for remote workers needs to explain how they should protect their data, maintain a proper work-life balance, and communicate through the proper channels.
Remote workers also have a right to know any federal, state, or local labor laws that apply to them. This typically applies to their available leaves, working hours, and benefits. Double-check your local labor laws to make sure your remote employees are following them.
Recommended online lessons about remote work safety and conduct:
Cybersecurity training is a must for new and existing employees. Hackers and other malicious parties are always finding new ways to steal sensitive company data. So, your employees must stay updated with the most recent cybersecurity practices to avoid having their data stolen.
Teaching your employees stronger password creation, common email scams, and effective data privacy habits can protect your company from losing important and sensitive data, and breaching your customers’ trust.
Recommended online lessons about cybersecurity training:
Harassment is a serious issue that directly harms employees and leaves your business vulnerable to lawsuits. It can come in many forms like cyberbullying, forced social exclusion, and sexual harassment. It's the company’s duty to inform its employees of their stance on harassment so that it does not happen in the workplace.
Defining harassment and how it might show up helps employees recognize these behaviors in the workplace. So, providing regular anti-harassment compliance training can prevent a culture of bullying and give way to a friendly working environment.
Recommended online lessons about anti-harassment:
Sexual harassment is a form of workplace harassment that is sadly all too common. It’s a type of harassment that describes unnecessary sexual behavior in the workplace like teasing, catcalling, sexual favors, and unwanted touching. Anyone can be a victim of sexual harassment so it’s important set strict boundaries through compliance training.
A training session for sexual harassment should explain what types of interactions are unacceptable and why, like unwanted sexual advances or requesting sexual favors for company benefits. Because a healthy and professional workplace comes from treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Recommended online lessons about anti-harassment:
Diversity training, also known as Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) training, is about learning the value of an inclusive workplace. In fact, a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center shows 72% of employed adults agreed that DEI policies had a positive effect on their workplace.
This type of compliance training doesn’t only talk about discrimination against people with different traits, such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion. It celebrates diversity and how it leads to better communication, productivity, and innovation.
Recommended online lessons about diversity training:
Diversity & Inclusion Courses by Future Learn
Corruption in the workplace happens when an employee does illegal and harmful actions for their own benefit or gain, like bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and abuse of power. Aside from legal fees and penalties, corruption can destroy your customer’s trust in your company.
A compliance training course on corruption should define it, how to identify actions under it, and which authorities to submit evidence to. Make sure to include any local legislation or industry-specific guidelines in your talk through a LMS for compliance training.
Recommended online lessons about anti-corruption:
An orderly and collaborative workplace doesn’t appear overnight. Regular compliance training is important for building a work culture that isn’t just compliant but prioritizes safety and equality for all your employees.
Compliance training doesn’t have to be an ordinary weekly seminar. With the right tools, it can be a lively discussion where everyone is engaged with your chosen topic. With gamification features and an expansive list of compliance training resources, SC Training can help you create a professional and dynamic workplace culture.
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Author
Anakin Garcia is a content writer for SC Training (formerly EdApp), an e-learning platform that brings certified training courses straight to your phone. Outside of writing, he's playing tabletop games or reading comics.