Human resource compliance is an ever-changing labyrinth that poses a challenge to all organizations across the globe. Studies reveal that many HR managers have expressed their concern about complying with policies and laws governing the human resource industry, especially in the global environment. This can be attributed not only to the vast amount of HR regulatory policies that differ from country to country but also the dynamic nature of these laws and regulations. Policies become obsolete, and new laws are enforced within a short time frame, and before your organization realizes and incorporates these changes, you could be violating government norms. Several companies are often found non-compliant during audits due to the lack of an effective solution to monitor internal and statutory compliance.
The recent COVID19 pandemic brought in light a series of changes in the global labor law. For example, countries like the USA have made amends to FMLA that permit employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leaves and job-protected leaves. Whereas, in the United Kingdom, employees are entitled to receive £94.25 a week as Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), provided they suffer from any form of illness that defeats their ability to work. While the changes in the labor laws act as a layer of protection to safeguard both employers and employees, this additionally creates a mounting pressure on the HR leaders/ managers to act upon these changes immediately.
We’re sharing essential tips on how you can effectively manage global HR compliance like a pro, tips you can start using today:
A proficient compliance team – Having a dedicated team of experts to monitor the changes in country-specific laws and regulations carefully will not only help your organization address the changes but also strengthen the overall compliance management process. Points to consider can be a list of countries of operations, foreign and local human resource staff, and the size of your in-house legal team. Having a sizeable group of subject matter experts can also help conduct regular internal audits to scouting and working with the selected partners to keep your organization on track.
Conducting regular HR compliance audits – Conducting a compliance audit acts as a complete health check-up of your entire compliance framework/process. Quite often, companies find ways of avoiding these audits due to the fear of incompliance. After you have successfully set-up a team and a detailed procedure on monitoring and tracking HR laws, it is logical to conduct or have the team conduct regular as well as random internal audits to find and fix any anomalies leading to in-compliance. Additionally, you can partner with an audit firm that can guide your team and provide unbiased opinions and suggestions on how to improve and better the overall process. This, if followed diligently, can safeguard your organization from any malpractices or issues arising due to in-compliance.
Measuring comprehensive compliance metrics – In a study conducted by Deloitte, it was found that 30 percent of chief compliance offers don’t measure the effectiveness of their compliance programs. Like every other HR process, tracking and analyzing metrics and KPIs can gauge the success of your overall HR compliance framework. KPIs like –
- Time taken to track and update the law/regulation change
- Number of compliance issues discovered for a defined period
- Time taken to resolve any issues arising due to a change/update in-laws
- Tacking audit performance
can help your organization diagnose the problem at an early stage.
Training and educating your internal line managers – Tracking, updating, and implementing of the HR compliance rules and regulations is only half a battle won. The other significant half (and quite often the neglected part) of the battle is training and educating your internal stakeholders, especially the managers. For example, as per the Ministry of Manpower Singapore, employees who are served a quarantine order (QO) will be deemed to be paid sick leave. This period of absence of work will be treated as paid hospitalization leave. If a manager rejects the leave of absence of his employee serving the quarantine order due to lack of knowledge will also be treated as an act of violation. It thus, becomes crucial that you keep your employees informed of any change in laws that have a direct bearing on them. After providing the initial training to your employees on the change of policies/ laws, you can use many ways to re-communicate to them. Periodic newsletter, quizzes, micro-learning, or using your internal collaborative tool are good practices for your organization to follow.
Implementing a personalized HR compliance solution – Lastly, there is nothing better than finding a global HR compliance solution that is flexible and customized to your organization’s needs. Implementing the right system can only help ease the burden of managing a process as complex and critical as HR compliance. Imagine getting an HR compliance solution wherein you can configure compliance policies, maintain a repository of compliance library, and get pro-active alerts and more on a click of a button? Having a single application can give you the benefits of hassle-free compliance management.
(You can also read – HR Compliance: Coining a ‘compliant’ future with technology to find how an HR compliance solution can help you effectively manage global HR compliance.)
Follow these steps to create a robust HR compliance framework and process tailored to your organization’s overall business needs to effectively manage HR compliance, today!
CLICK HERE for more information or detailed demo of NeeyamoWorks ComplianceTM – your trusted HR compliance advisor, enabler, and auditor – all in one!
