The best software for quality and risk management.As an organisation, you have to comply with all kinds of laws and regulations. For example, around working safely and hygienically. To comply with these standards, you must have the basics in order, processes must be safeguarded and employees must keep to agreements that have been made. The result stands or falls with the attitude and behaviour of the people in your organisation. Therefore, creating commitment and support is a challenge for many organisations. How do you make sure you are not only compliant on paper?
Being compliant means demonstrably complying with laws and regulations; requirements imposed by the outside world and requirements you impose on yourself as an organisation. Compliancy can be about anything: from a safe workplace to complying with tax laws. It always concerns a law or requirement relating to a specific theme such as quality, safety or hygiene. The laws and regulations are there for a reason. Ultimately, they are there to help organisations move forward, to put important issues on the map and to improve quality within organisations. Matters which your organisation also strives for.
Following laws and regulations may not be much work for a freelancer, but the bigger your company, the more important it is that you strictly follow requirements and rules. If you fail to do so, you can not only expect high fines and compensation claims, but you can also suffer reputational damage. In addition to legal regulations, being compliant is often demanded from the market.
There are organisations which act from intrinsic motivation – they comply with certain standards by their own accord. They want to move forward and improve their quality by obtaining certain certifications. For example, a hospital wants to provide quality care, a manufacturing company wants to produce in a safe way and a construction company wants to deliver high-quality buildings. Other organisations comply with certifications ‘because they have to’.
The way your organisation works may already largely match the rules, but that is not enough to obtain the right certifications. You need to be able to demonstrate your operating procedures. By obtaining certificates, you illustrate what you stand for as an organisation. Mapping out processes and documents and fully identify risks is a good idea. Is it about new processes? Then you need to start blank.
Ask yourself questions such as:
There is a difference between good intentions and daily practice. How do you bridge that difference? Consider a topic like information security, currently a hot topic for many organisations, as an example. If you want your employees to handle information properly, you have to guide them step by step. You should not tell them that you want to be compliant in this area. No, you explain what information security means for the organisation and for them. You ensure they are well informed and then you explain what you expect in terms of information security.
Making colleagues aware and bringing them along is a continuous process. But it doesn’t stop there; there will always be new themes or aspects that require attention. Furthermore, a trend is visible in which the standards also ask you to be actively involved in creating awareness. Some standards say that you should not only map processes and manage complaints properly – but also ensure that you actively work on employee awareness. And that goes beyond reporting the information which is available.
It’s about whether you actually work safely and hygienically, deliver consistently high quality and value information security – or whether you see it as administrative fuss. Because if it is your conviction to comply with laws, rules and wishes, then you have to get your employees to participate and activate them to show the right behaviour, work in the right way and follow the agreed processes and protocols. The safe, healthy and quality way of working is more than just a paper reality.
Zenya BOOST, the most recent Zenya module, helps you achieve your compliancy goals in daily practice. With BOOST, you create awareness among employees and effectively put current themes on the map. Whether it’s improving quality and safety, rolling out new initiatives or reiterating key topics.
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