Most HR leaders surveyed believe employees are breaking the rules

Most HR leaders believe their employees are breaking the rules, according to a new survey from learning and development company CYPHER Learning.

The survey draws on responses from 400 HR or people management and senior business leaders in the US and the UK. Some 71% of those surveyed said they “think staff are likely breaking the rules, but often don’t know until something goes wrong,” according to the report, which was released on Jan. 18.

When a policy or procedure is violated, employees most often say they either did not understand the rules, or were not aware of the rules, respondents said.

HR pros overseeing compliance are navigating an increasingly complex environment, as employers update policies and procedures to cover issues such as hybrid working, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI). The regulatory landscape is ever-changing; Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence tracked 61,228 “regulatory events” in 2022, the third-highest annual total since 2008.

The report points to a lack of resources and follow-through that may be contributing to noncompliance. Some 65% of respondents surveyed by CYPHER described compliance training as a “one-and-done information dump,” and only 44% said they test employees’ knowledge of the policies and procedures on which they’re trained.

Noncompliance can cost big bucks. Respondents who had experienced at least one noncompliance incident in the past year estimated it cost their organization $1.2 million, on average. Graham Glass, CEO of CYPHER Learning, suspects these costs are due to fines the companies incur. “These fines can rack up pretty quickly, so there's obviously collateral damage,” he told HR Brew.

Over the past three years, the report notes prominent cases of financial institutions being fined for federal violations, as well as the uptick in “policies and procedures on a range of issues from social media and AI usage to inclusivity, sexual harassment, and substance abuse.”

The advent of new technologies has made navigating compliance tougher, Glass added, and put HR departments on alert. “In the digital age, the speed at which you can rack up fines is so much faster than it used to be,” he said. “The world’s changing faster…you can lose a lot more money because of digital technology.”

CYPHER, which is currently using AI to help employers develop compliance training, has a few recommendations for HR departments to ensure employees understand company rules. Among them are introducing multimedia content such as quizzes and gamification, testing employees to confirm they understand the rules, and refreshing workers on key policies.