“With the economy as bad as it is, we
really can’t afford to spend the money on new products for training our
employees right now.”
The above statement is something I hear constantly. Not verbatim, but
basically the same idea; even if the last part of it isn’t completely
relevant to a specific situation, there is undoubtedly some part of
everyone’s life that the United States’ economic downturn has affected –
just replace “new products for training our employees right now” with
whatever it is that applies to you. Maybe it’s “a family vacation” or “a
better car”. And with all the layoffs around us lately, showing up and
doing our jobs isn’t good enough anymore. Nowadays, it’s no secret that
we all have to go that extra mile – coming in early and
staying late, taking fewer coffee breaks, and edging out our competition
– to secure a permanent place in our respective departments. It’s
happening to all of us, and it’s inarguably unavoidable.
In a day and age where, for many individuals, their paychecks’ final
destinations are planned out weeks in advance to get the most bang for
their buck, the last worry on managers’ minds is training and policy management. Compliance has taken a backseat to getting the job done as
quickly as possible – and in the cheapest way. Do you hear tons of
people say, “Oh, because of the economy…” and ads on the radio trying to
pitch their sales through their low prices due to “the economy”? It’s
almost as if talking about the terrible economy has become a trend in
the past couple of years, and individuals and corporations alike are
finding it easier and easier every day to blame their monetary
tribulations on the less-than-successful American market.
Photo Credit: Matt Collins
But can we really afford not to have the best possible
policy and procedure management methods for our companies? You may be
thinking, “I have the paperwork we need and it always gets signed off on
eventually.” But this method, similar to coming to work on time and
doing our jobs, just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. At a major
Arizona police department in June 2009, many officers weren’t following
the department’s immigration policy. The policy wasn’t enforced the way
it should have been, and led eventually to a major violation resulting
in a lawsuit, costing the organization much more money than it needed to
pay and putting its entire name and reputation in jeopardy.
Shouldn’t we do the best we can to ensure all our employees are following and signing off on every policy so something like this doesn’t
happen to us? It isn’t just about the lost money – saving
face, especially in a time of economic downturn, is just as important
as, if not more important than, saving cash. I can tell you first-hand
from working for a successful, customer-service-focused retail chain
that having a solid reputation is priceless. You will, inevitably, spend
more time and money righting something that shouldn’t have been wrong
to begin with, while your reputation still suffers the long-standing
consequences. Plus, you’re most likely already very busy – think of how
else you could spend the precious time and resources within your
department by not doing so to save your company’s name.
There’s one specific goal I think we can all agree we’d like to
achieve within our respective compliance departments: to simplify
our policy and procedure-management experience, while saving as much
money as we can (www.powerdms.com).
At IDS, we can show you how to take the hassle out of managing drawers
and file cabinets full of stacks and stacks of paper, providing a simple
way for your company to limit liability, reduce compliance risks, and
retain a positive reputation. At the same time, you’ll be able to
produce documents more easily (in auditing cases and to provide more
clout in court) – and save money! We want to help you ensure every
single one of your policies is read and signed on time, every time. Gone
are the days when a paper binder was enough to keep order; liability is
something many agencies can’t afford to endure. Maybe it’s time to take
the next step forward.
Sign up for a FREE live demonstration to learn more!
Jen Juneau graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s in technical communication and a minor in magazine journalism, as she enjoys both instructional and creative/editorial writing (and often at the same time). She has worked professionally on a variety of both types of content for almost five years, and appreciates the tools the English language gives her to create succinct-yet-engaging information. She believes effective communication is the only grease most conflict wheels are really missing.
