Back in June, I blogged about NAVEX Global’s benchmarking data for compliance hotlines. For a more general look at compliance program benchmarking information, NAVEX issued a 72-page 2020 Definitive Risk & Compliance Benchmark Report based on a survey of over 1,400 risk and compliance professionals. One of the survey’s takeaways is that many compliance programs could take measures to improve effectiveness by prioritizing people issues. Here are some of the survey’s high-level data points:
– How an organization’s senior leaders view its compliance function greatly impacts overall program performance as does the frequency with which compliance officers interact with the board
– Regulatory requirements primarily drive compliance program decisions but for programs looking to get better, emphasis should be on workplace culture, tone from the top and program automation as much or more than meeting legal requirements
– More than half of respondents said that their risk and compliance program periodically reports to the board and 9 out of 10 rated their board engagement as good or excellent
– With respect to training, 74% of organizations are investing in data privacy training and nearly one-half of respondents are planning on providing training on bribery, corruption, fraud and financial integrity in the next 2-3 years
In terms of disappointments, one finding was that although workplace culture is valued, 74% of respondents described ‘improving organizational culture’ as important, the issue ranked last when respondents prioritized their concerns. Along with culture, preventing and detecting retaliation ranked low among compliance program concerns even though it’s a top concern for both regulators and employees, and the extent to which employees fear retaliation has consistently been a strong indicator of the health of an organization’s culture. The survey found only 39% of respondents labeled speaking up and fear of retaliation as top concerns and the number of respondents who intend on making retaliation prevention a priority in the coming year fell to 17%.
-Lynn Jokela, TheCorporateCounsel.net September 18, 2020
