Training program components
The most frequently cited topics covered in employee compliance training are the code of conduct and ethics (91 percent of respondents), cyber-security (86 percent) and the compliance hotline (68 percent). These are followed by FCPA/bribery and corruption (63 percent), third-party fraud (61 percent), anti-money laundering (58 percent) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)/health and safety matters (55 percent). The only specified topic that fewer than half of companies train employees on is the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions programs (27 percent). This may be explained by the relatively narrow range of firms for which sanctions are a potential issue.
Broadly speaking, small-cap companies are less likely to provide training than their larger peers on certain compliance topics, most likely as a result of limited resources. For example, just over half (51 percent) of respondents at small-cap companies say their firm trains employees on the compliance hotline, compared with 83 percent of those at mid-cap companies, 80 percent at large caps and 96 percent at mega-caps.
Conversely, respondents at mega-cap companies are more likely to report that certain topics are taught, starting with the code of conduct and ethics (100 percent) and followed by the compliance hotline (96 percent), FCPA/bribery and corruption (93 percent), anti-money laundering and cyber-security (both 89 percent).
Overall, US companies (95 percent) are more likely to train employees on their code of conduct and ethics than are firms in Europe (89 percent) or Canada (86 percent). Similarly, 93 percent of respondents in the US say their company trains on cyber-security, compared with 85 percent of those in Canada and 80 percent of those in Europe.
Almost a fifth of respondents say their company trains employees on compliance topics other than those specified in the survey. They mention issues including:
Combating terrorist financing
Insider trading
Privacy, including the General Data Protection Regulation
Training based on operations/industry
ESG
Harassment.
