Program Best Practices Published Dec 15th, 2016

Top 10 Ethics & Compliance Predictions and Recommendations for 2017

Ed Petry NAVEX

...it’s time to look ahead to stay as proactive as possible in the coming year.

2016 was an eventful year in the world of ethics and compliance. We lived and learned through the first year of the Yates Memo; we faced the momentous Brexit and dissected what it would mean for ethics and compliance; we encountered new Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) rulings for wage and hour; and, among many other significant events in our ever-changing landscape, we witnessed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whistleblower awards reach its $100 million milestone.

The role of the compliance function is continuing to change as well. Along with complying with standards and regulations, compliance professionals are increasingly becoming responsible for creating and nurturing strong and ethical corporate cultures and protecting organizations from financial, legal and reputational risk. As the compliance industry continues to prove “eventful” and the professionals in it expand their roles and responsibilities, it’s time to look ahead to stay as proactive as possible in the coming year.

Download White Paper: Top 10 Ethics & Compliance Predictions and Recommendations for 2017

The List:

Delivering a Return on Compliance (ROC). How do you prove a negative? How can you estimate the value to your organization of misbehavior that was prevented, or the value of compliance failures that, because of your efforts, didn’t happen?
Thriving in a Five Generation Workplace. An unprecedented change is happening in our workplaces. In many organizations, up to five generations are currently working together creating a situation that is both full of opportunities and challenges for E&C in 2017.
Putting the “e” in Ethics and Compliance. Developments in information technology are creating more and more opportunities for the automation of E&C programs. We’ve seen this trend begin to develop over the last few years, and this is the year in which building an ‘e’ program should be a priority for every organization.
Sorting Through the Alphabet Soup of Global Standards. What is “required” of an effective E&C program is not yet settled. The regulatory alphabet soup is a heavy burden for ethics and compliance professionals and their organizations and the coming year shows no signs that the burden will be lessened.
Being more than just the People Who Say “No." Rebranding your office as a positive contributor to the business and a key part of the management team may be a long-term goal, but moving in that direction will pay immediate dividends. This is the year to realign and rebrand.
Meeting Society’s Expectations for Social Responsibility. Younger employees along with the public and media continue to apply pressure on organizations to address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues including human rights and environmental sustainability. For many consumers, a robust and transparent CSR program is a necessary condition before they are willing to buy.
Latest Trends in Helplines and Whistleblowing Protection. Every year it’s safe to assume that our Top 10 List will include the latest developments pertaining to helplines, whistleblowers and retaliation, and this year is no exception. This year we examining some hard data on the topics
Compliance Role in Mitigating Cyber Mayhem. While E&C departments may not be the appropriate lead function to address these cyber and data-related risks, it is a serious mistake for E&C to be uninvolved. E&C can and should play a key supporting role in identifying and mitigating cyber security.
Ethics and Compliance Crisis Management Plans. With our 24/7 news cycle and social media’s speed and uncontrollability, all organizations today should be keenly aware of the fact that they may be one step away from a compliance failure from which it can take months or longer to recover.
Compliance Officer Liability. While there has always been some unease among CCOs about their personal liability, the issue seems to be heating up despite the fact that only a handful of cases have been brought against CCOs and were mostly in the financial services industry. Nevertheless, recent data suggest CCOs are worried about liability.