Many companies have conducted employee surveys to determine the ethical health of their organizations. They ask employees, for instance, has a culture of compliance been successfully integrated that starts with senior leadership setting the tone from the top? Are processes, systems and people in place to ensure compliance and prove it to regulators?
Few organizations, however, have stopped to ask how healthy the compliance department’s working relationship is with the rest of the company.
Marjorie Maier, senior director and division compliance and privacy officer at HMS, has discovered asking this question can yield valuable results. In a new podcast on The Compliance and Ethics Blog, she describes how HMS uses ongoing employee surveys to understand the strengths and weaknesses of its compliance program and how the compliance department can evolve to better meet HMS’ operational and business needs.
Maier says the surveys HMS employs are anonymous, so employees are forthright in their feedback. She also points out that surveys can be conducted using free secure online survey tools.
According to Maier, HMS has been able to use the surveys to make sure her compliance department is seen as helpful and collaborative, enabling the business to meet requirements and achieve its goals – versus the police person who is seen primarily as an auditor.
The shift in thinking takes time, often as much as five years, says Maier. That means it’s wise for compliance departments to begin measuring and making changes now to be more effective in meeting a growing number of emerging compliance rules.
To learn more, consider listening in to Maier’s podcast on the Compliance and Ethics blog. Or if you're looking for compliance solutions to help your organization, learn more about MyComplianceOffice.
