How to Manage Compliance and Risk with an Online Learning Management System

What is risk and compliance management?

Nearly half of all employed Australians have experienced some form of workplace bullying.  When you consider what liabilities this can leave open for a business and its directors, it is easy to see why so many businesses are adopting risk reduction strategies through Learning Management Systems.

It isn’t just workplace bullying however where employers are leaving themselves open to legal action. There are a variety of areas where businesses can find themselves in a world of pain if they don’t have appropriate measures in place.

How can LMS help with risk and compliance?

• Diversity & inclusion training

Equal employment opportunity is a major area of concern for business. It is unlawful for businesses to discriminate employees and job seekers based on race, colour, gender, sexual preference, age, disability, marital status, carer’s responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, politics, nationality or social origin. This is a lot to cover, and it is important that all employees within an organisation are fully aware of the consequences for not complying with these laws.

• Employee privacy rights training

There are also further areas to consider including sexual harassment, diversity and privacy which directly impact employees. What some consider to be harmless fun, could be viewed as sexual harassment by another.  What may seem to be common practice may impede on the privacy rights of employees. These areas can be legal minefields and as an employer, risk mitigation and compliance are paramount.

• Industry standards and government legislation training

Along with this comes industry standards. Finance for instance will have strict operating guidelines to keep their agents RG146 compliant. Those working in an online environment will have to follow set regulations around online privacy laws.

Additionally, if you operate throughout Australia, you need to be cognisant of different legislation in different States and Territories. The Freedom of Information Act for instance, is different in all States and Territories. Recently, Victoria made changes to their Act which means that a new set of rules and regulations will follow.

So ask yourself as a business, how confident are you that you have these bases covered to reduce risk? Do you have a way of easily tracking who has completed what courses within your organisation? Do you have the ability to easily assign new courses when legislation is updated? Can you give employees the option to take on extra compliance courses if they so wish?

Online LMS providers can give you these capabilities.  When set properly, there is no wondering how many employees are up to date with your compliance requirements. Good systems will give you the ability to run regular reports on compliance and quickly identify staff members who are not up to date, so remember this when choosing the best learning management system.

The investment in upgrading to an online system also far outweighs the risks involved in missing staff members who may not be compliant. Along with this, there are also significant time savings on your part when it comes to managing these processes.

ELMO Software  is a cloud-based solution that helps thousands of organisations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to effectively manage their people, process and pay. ELMO solutions span the entire employee lifecycle from ‘hire to retire’. They can be used together or stand-alone, and are configurable according to an organisation’s unique processes and workflows. Automate and streamline your operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and bolster productivity. For further information, contact us.