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10 Types of Compliance Training Courses (Plus Top Courses)

Operating a business means navigating a plethora of risks. From cybersecurity attacks to money laundering, your organization needs to train employees on how to spot and prevent potential threats.

Compliance training courses make these unfortunate scenarios less likely. It ensures your employees are up to date with regulatory requirements, and that your business is as protected as can be—so you can avoid joining the businesses that spend around $14.8 million on each instance of non-compliance.

Luckily, you don’t have to create compliance training courses from scratch. This guide shares the 10 types of training you should offer, alongside popular training modules to build upon.

What is a Compliance Training Course?

Compliance training is a type of learning program that brings employees up to speed on laws, regulations, or rules that apply to their industry. Compliance training courses are designed to keep your employees safe and protect the business from reputation or financial risks like money laundering, cyber-attacks, or corruption. 

Not only do compliance training courses give your employees the knowledge to avoid these issues, but they also protect your business from a legal standpoint. Most industries have regulations they must follow (and annual compliance training certificates they must issue) to stay within the law. 

Types of Compliance Training Courses

There are various types of compliance training courses that you might need to incorporate into your learning and development program. Here are the most popular. 

1. Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Training

No matter how well you try to hire employees who are a good cultural fit and build an inclusive workplace with codes of conduct that your staff must abide by, you’ll still need anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training courses in your L&D programs. 

All organizations are legally required to protect their employees from harm, so including this type of content in your compliance training programs helps you remain compliant with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). 

Just make sure yours covers aspects like:

  • Protected characteristics
  • Types of discrimination or harassment (with examples)
  • Who and how to report breaches to 
  • Consequences for those who are found to violate your anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies 

2. Code of Conduct Training

Code of conduct works also protects your employees but it isn’t a legal requirement. It sets the foundation for how you expect your employees to behave and the values you’d like them to follow. 

This type of compliance training course covers things like:

  • Your company values and ethics
  • Communication policies
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Use of resources (e.g. can they use their work laptop for personal use?)

Code of conduct training comes into use if employees find themselves in a situation that hasn’t been specifically covered by another training module

If you’re looking for a new software company and an employee’s partner works for a shortlisted brand, for example, they can reference the “Values” module in your code of conduct training program to see whether they should report it as a conflict of interest.

3. GDPR Data Privacy and Security Training

Data breaches cost businesses $4.88 million, on average. Security training, which teaches your employees how to keep confidential information safe, can protect your business financially while also remaining compliant with data protection laws like GDPR.

Annual security training doesn’t just protect your data and insulate you from hefty fines for non-compliance. Some 40 percent of people are worried about how companies manage their data. Showing your dedication to keeping their information safe can go a long way—perhaps even convincing them to choose your business over a competitor. 

Example of compliance training path in WorkRamp

4. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Training

Money laundering happens when criminals try to “clean” money they’ve obtained illegally. The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) monitors this type of financial crime, and non-compliance could result in expensive penalties or fines.

As part of your compliance training course, cover topics like:

  • Red flags for suspicious financial activity 
  • How to do due diligence on customers or payments
  • Where to report suspicious activity

5. OSHA Workplace Safety Training

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created a set of workplace safety standards that organizations must follow. The idea is to reduce the risk of workplace accidents or injuries, which in turn protect your employees and minimize financial costs associated with medical expenses or compensation claims. 

Exactly what you’ll cover in your OSHA workplace safety training module will differ depending on your employees’ roles and responsibilities. Those working within a manufacturing warehouse will need to know how to safely operate machinery, for example, whereas office workers will need to know how to set up their workstation to avoid back pain or repetitive strain injuries. 

Remember that not all health and safety issues are physical. Mental health is just as important as physical health—so much so that 50 percent of full-time U.S. workers have left a previous role amid mental health-related concerns. Make sure that your workplace safety compliance training includes mental health advice and how to access support, should they need it.

6. Ethics Compliance Training

Ethics compliance training is similar to a code of conduct, but it dives deeper into your company’s values and how you expect employees to follow them. 

It helps your team members understand their obligations and how their behaviors impact compliance, which has a domino effect on your other compliance programs. Employees are already primed and know the values you stick to. 

Ethics training also creates a sense of accountability. It makes it clear that everyone is responsible for their own actions, and that the company culture you’ve built is a team sport to maintain. The module should cover the consequences of not adhering to these values and guidance on how to report unethical behavior.

7. Cybersecurity Awareness Training

The vast majority of business now happens online, which has created opportunities for fraudsters to steal data or intercept financial transactions. Cybersecurity training helps protect your business from either of these scenarios by teaching employees:

  • The risk that cyber attacks pose and the importance of preventing them 
  • How to recognize scams like hacking, phishing, or malware
  • Tips on how to set secure login details, such as using two-factor authentication

Cybersecurity training is especially important for remote workers who are using a non-company network to conduct business. Include guidance on how to set up a secure home connection as part of your cybersecurity compliance training program to ensure you’re protected, no matter where your employees work. 

Pro tip: WorkRamp’s compliance training software has partnered with NINJIO, a leading cybersecurity awareness training provider, to help you remain compliant and protect your business with the learning management that powers your entire L&D strategy.

compliance training

8. Anti-Corruption Training

Anti-corruption training helps employees understand what bribery looks like and the damage it can cause to your business. 

It isn’t reserved for government agencies or official bodies. Employees might find themselves being offered a bribe in exchange for something that ordinarily goes against your brand’s values or processes—like being gifted a luxury item from a supplier if the employee chooses their service over another. 

9. HIPAA Compliance Training

Any type of organization that handles health-related data must ensure that it’s compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It protects confidential information like a patient’s name, address, social security number, and medical records. 

HIPAA compliance training covers the steps your employees must take to protect this type of data. It should also include guidance on how to report a potential breach, the consequences of one, and best practices to keep patient data protected as required by law.

10. Environmental Compliance Training

Climate change isn’t just a hot topic—it’s something that global leaders are trying to reverse. Many government agencies have implemented new environmental laws to protect the planet from concerns like: 

  • Energy emissions 
  • Waste disposal
  • Pollution 

While businesses must be compliant with these laws to avoid fines and penalties, environmental compliance training can also lay the foundation of what you expect from your employees with regard to the environmental impact of their decisions. 

A fashion retailer that only uses sustainable materials, for example, would have an environmental compliance training course that covers what these sustainable materials are, how to find them, and the importance of doing so. Anyone who joins the company can quickly get up to speed with the brand’s values through this onboarding module

Best Compliance Training Courses

Are you ready to incorporate these types of compliance training courses into your learning and development program? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Here are five of the best-prebuilt learning modules to build upon. 

Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) is a regulatory body that offers compliance certification and memberships. The SCCE’s “Become Certified” program requires employees to gain work experience as a compliance officer and sit an exam in order to receive their certification. The certificate costs between $350 and $450 and lasts for two years, at which point it must be renewed. 

NAVEX Global

NAVEX Global is a software provider that helps organizations manage compliance and governance. NAVEX One, its core offering, is designed to offer a 360-view of business compliance. It pulls all of your data into a single platform and identifies potential risks (both internal and external), so you can take a proactive approach and ensure you’re protected.

Skillsoft Compliance Solutions

Skillsoft is a compliance training program that offers a library of prebuilt courses. Topics include workplace health and safety, legal and ethics, and security—all of which are accessed through its online learning management system, Percipio. 

Ethics & Compliance Initiative

The Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s online course focuses on ethics and compliance. It’s available as a self-paced and on-demand course but also supports organizations who want to train a bigger team.

ECI’s certificate-based course remains valid for two years. Students can extend their certified status with Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits by participating in other online training programs, including webinars, offered by ECI.

LRN

LRN offers compliance consulting services alongside a catalog of prebuilt courses. It covers over 500 compliance topics with learning content translated in over 70 languages, making it a great option for organizations that want to offer compliance training courses to international teams. 

Best Practices for Effective Compliance Training

Compliance training isn’t one size fits all. What works for one organization might not work for another. That said, there are some best practices to consider when integrating a new compliance training course into your organization.

Taking a Risk-Based Approach

A risk-based approach to compliance training means prioritizing topics or themes with the highest risk. It’s a good strategy to follow if you’re starting a compliance program from scratch or evaluating where to allocate limited resources for the biggest payoff.

Let’s put that into practice and say you’re an investment company that works with high-net-worth clients. People who use your service to launder money would pose the biggest and most likely risk to your business, so it makes sense to prioritize the development of anti-money laundering compliance programs over alternative topics like HIPAA or environmental compliance. (Both are important, but not as pressing as money laundering in this context.)

Prioritizing Engagement and Interactivity

Compliance isn’t a naturally fun topic. It’s unlikely that employees will enjoy learning about health and safety or data protection, especially if you’re presenting complex information in a wall of written text. It’s likely why 15 percent of employees click through compliance training without reading or listening.

Interactive content—such as quizzes, simulations, or role-playing—has been proven to help people retain more knowledge than static content alone. These learning formats are inherently more engaging, helping to make dry topics a little more fun for your employees. This alone can help increase learner participation and maintain compliance.

WorkRamp HR Compliance Training Prebuilt content

Accessible and Inclusive Offerings

You might be teaching employees how to be inclusive throughout your compliance training course, but if the way in which you’re delivering that training isn’t accessible, you’re not leading by example.

There’s a lot you can do to make your compliance content more accessible, like:

  • Using clear and simple language that’s easy to understand
  • Offering translated content for non-native English speakers
  • Making it available in alternative formats, including text, video, and audio 
  • Incorporating different opinions or perspectives in your learning content 
  • Allowing employees to complete training at their own pace

Continuous Evaluation and Improvement

Laws and regulations change often; the compliance training courses you developed years ago may no longer be fit for purpose. Employees can also zone out and skip over important information if they’re required to take exactly the same course every year. 

Continuous evaluation involves regularly reviewing your compliance content and updating it so it’s always accurate. The simplest method is to consult your LMS analytics and prioritize modules or learning materials with the lowest:

  • Learner participation scores
  • Learner satisfaction scores
  • Scores on the end-of-module quizzes or tests 

Integration With Organizational Culture

It can be difficult for employees to wrap their heads around compliance if they’re not using the concept in their daily roles. Help them envision how compliance topics embed themselves into their roles and responsibilities by referencing real-life examples and use cases within each module.

If your code of conduct compliance training talks about how your company values transparency, recount the story of how being honest with a customer resulted in more revenue and a bigger bonus for the salesperson—even if it felt difficult at the time. 

You can also make compliance a big part of your company culture by shining a spotlight on employees who show progress. This could be as simple as a congratulatory Slack message or an extra half-day of PTO each time someone completes their annual compliance training program at least four weeks ahead of schedule.

Use the Best LMS for Seamless Compliance Training

A learning management system (LMS) is the dashboard that houses your employee education programs, including compliance training. 

WorkRamp’s All-in-One learning management system helps you manage the end-to-end process of compliance training with features like:

  • Annual compliance reminders  
  • Compliance certifications
  • Library of prebuilt content created by experts 
  • Learning paths with compliance modules based on job role
  • Analytics to monitor learner engagement  

Want to see how WorkRamp can manage your compliance training programs? Contact us today to schedule a free personalized demo. 

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Elise Dopson

WorkRamp Contributor

Elise Dopson is a freelance writer for B2B SaaS companies. She’s also the co-founder of Peak Freelance and mom to an adorable Spaniel pup.

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