Compliance training is an essential part of every business – or at least it should be. Training your employees on the proper ways to work in your office (safety training, anti-harassment, company policies, etc.) is an easy way to save your business thousands of dollars in lawsuits and non-compliance fees; in fact, the Ponemon Institute and Globalscape reported that non-compliance cost businesses over $14 million in 2018!

Additionally, compliance training is a great way to ensure a happy and productive workforce. If your employees are properly trained to avoid workplace harassment, racial biases, and other counterproductive behaviors, you are sure to have a more comfortable and pleasant working environment – something every employer (and employee) wants.

Of course, compliance training is only effective if your employees retain the information – and that can only happen if they’re engaged in the training itself. How can you make sure your compliance training makes an impact? Here are a few tips for keeping your employees engaged.

Explain the “Why”

Firstly, your employees need to understand WHY your company policies are in place. Your workforce is made up of mature adults, not kids; a simple list of “dos” and “don’ts” won’t be enough for them. Instead, take the time to fully explain each policy or rule to your employees during training.

If you simply tell your employees what they should and shouldn’t do, they won’t have any understanding of the potential consequences of breaking policy. However, if you explain why the policy is in place, the way it benefits the business, and the consequences of non-compliance, your employees are more likely to stick with protocol.

Gamify Training

Everyone loves a good game, even co-workers in compliance training. There are a number of commonly used games, songs, rhymes and other tools to help people learn. Why not try it for your training? There are a variety of ways to gamify your compliance training, including:

Themed Training

Creating a storyline or theme around your training – for example, a fictitious worker who acts out different scenarios that relate to compliance training – can help make abstract themes more real. Storytelling or themed lessons can also help create interest in what you’re teaching, as most people respond to stories more than rote lists of rules and regulations.

Reward-Based Training

Everyone loves getting points – it’s why so many companies give them to us. Credit card companies give us “points” when we buy things, and Starbucks gives us “points” when we order coffee through their app. Each point compels us to find a way to get another. Giving your employees “points” or other rewards throughout training achieves the same effect, ultimately getting them to pay more attention to reap the rewards.

Friendly Competition

This is an extension of the reward-based game mentioned above. If your training involves quizzes or a points-based system, consider posting your trainee’s scores somewhere – for example, in the training room or online. This will encourage competition among the trainees and encourage them to pay attention so they can have the top score.

Personalize the Principles with Stories and Scenarios

Earlier, we talked about the power of storytelling as a teaching tool. Stories and real-world scenarios are an effective way to communicate with your trainees, as it taps into their emotional side. Your employees may not care about statistics and data right away, but they will be interested in how that data impacts the lives of real people.

Try to use stories to communicate your points as often as you can. You can even have your trainees put on skits or share their own (relevant) stories to make your lessons more relatable. This is a guaranteed way to help your employees reach a fuller understanding of each compliance concept – and therefore, it’s a guaranteed way to make them more likely to follow company policies.

Break Up Learning into Segments

It’s no secret that training can be incredibly boring (that’s why we’re writing this blog about keeping folks engaged). Oftentimes, the problem with compliance training comes down to one thing: there’s simply too much material to cover.

If you try to review all your compliance training in a single go, you’re bound to wind up with employees who are daydreaming, playing on their phones, or simply dozing through your lessons! This can be incredibly frustrating and feel like a waste of time for everyone – but it doesn’t have to be this way.

If you break up your learning into segments – for example, with bite-sized videos they can view at their leisure – your employees will be much more likely to retain your lessons. Not only can trainees take in lessons when they’re more alert and attentive, they can also go back and review things.

Provide Flexibility to Trainees

Today’s employees need more flexibility than ever before. Many workers are adjusting to a new normal: working from home with their children nearby (a near-impossible task). Between Zoom meetings, distance learning, and eye strain from SO much screen time, your employees are bound to feel overwhelmed at best and completely burnt out at worst.

Instead of piling more on your worker’s plates, consider giving them the flexibility to complete training at their convenience. Short training videos are a great way to give your employees a little freedom; they can watch a video as they sip their morning coffee, as they relax at the end of the day, or any time they want a little break from all the chaos.

Compliance Training Tools for Effective Workplaces

With today’s compliance training software, you can track your employee’s progress, send them friendly reminders if needed, and answer questions to help your trainees stay on track. These tools can help ensure that your employees get the compliance training they need without overwhelming them or boring them to death. Compliance training is essential for a happy, functioning workplace – but only if that training is a happy experience, too!

 

About the Author 

Giovanni Gallo is the Co-CEO of ComplianceLine, where his team strives to make the world a better workplace with compliance hotline services, sanction and license monitoring, and workforce eLearning software and services.

Growing up as the son of a Cuban refugee in an entrepreneurial family taught Gio how servanthood and deep care for employees can make a thriving business a platform for positive change in the world. He built on that through experience with startups and multinational organizations so ComplianceLine’s solutions can empower caring leaders to build strong cultures for the betterment of every employee and their community.

When he’s not working, Gio’s wrangling his two young kids, riding his motorcycle, and supporting education, families, and the homeless in the Charlotte community.