How does your organisation manage change and implement new policies and procedures?

New polices can be imposed for different reasons, including to manage risks of breaching laws, to follow industry standards, for health and safety, to align with company values or for other business reasons.

Corporate change, and the acceptance by staff of new policies and procedures, is made easier if there is a culture of compliance in the organisation. Everyone, from the directors and senior managers to the junior staff, should be committed to ensuring compliance with laws, company policies, industry standards etc.

If employees are not committed, the management can find themselves:

– spending too much time policing employee compliance with new procedures;
– answering numerous questions and queries about the new policy and procedures;
– faced with poor staff productivity and morale;
– disciplining non-compliant personnel;
– overcoming a lack of consistency in the application of procedures throughout the organisation.

How can you make sure that employees are on- board and will follow new procedures and directions imposed to implement a policy?

The following 6 tips should help to limit disruption to the business when implementing new policies and procedures.

1. Communication is an important part of developing a culture of compliance and in effectively implementing a compliance policy and new procedures. Employees need to know why the change is being made.  The managers should clearly understand and be able to articulate to the staff why they are implementing the new policy. If it is for legal compliance, they need to know how the law applies to the organisation and what steps need to be taken for compliance. If they aren’t sure, it’s better to seek legal advice before making a direction than after being questioned by staff.

2. Management need to understand how the change will impact on the various businesses, branches, departments and individuals in the organisation.  This is an important aspect of developing new procedures and timing their introduction. Having a thorough understanding of all aspects of the business down to grass roots level is invaluable.

3.Develop clear and applicable procedures to implement the policy.

4. Training staff in the changes that need to be made, why, and what the consequences are, for them and the company under the law, and for non- compliant individuals within the organisation.

5. Publish the policy and procedures for everyone to read.

6. Appoint a Compliance Officer to implement and assist staff in applying the policy and procedures.