The persistent challenge: how to do more with less
For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), compliance training needs to have a big impact with fewer resources than their enterprise counterparts. Lean teams still need to build ethical cultures, meet growing regulatory expectations and prepare employees for new risks – all while juggling limited budgets, small teams and competing priorities.
The good news? Effective compliance training does not require enterprise-sized resources – it requires focus.
That was the central message of a recent NAVEX webinar exploring how SMBs can build training programs that create meaningful results without adding unnecessary complexity.
SMBs are committed – but constrained
When people think about smaller compliance programs, it’s easy to assume they’re less mature because ethics and compliance aren’t a priority. The reality is much different.
“SMBs aren’t disengaged. They’re not deprioritizing ethics and compliance. They’re just constrained,” said Jen Farthing, general manager, training at NAVEX.
According to NAVEX 2026 State of Risk & Compliance data, 13% of SMBs describe their compliance programs as underdeveloped, compared to 5% globally. The same research found that roughly half of SMB compliance programs operate with four or fewer people, while 16% are managed by a single compliance professional.
These teams are still expected to deliver training, support managers, respond to reports, update policies and help shape organizational culture, with expectations often looking very similar to those facing larger organizations. The difference is the number of people available to do the work, making prioritization essential.
More training isn’t the answer
One of the biggest misconceptions in compliance is that more training automatically leads to better outcomes. But adding training to the repertoire for the sake of adding training misses the point – training opportunities need to be effective and resonate with learners to actually make an impact.
For SMBs, effective compliance training should be:
- Focused on the highest-risk areas
- Manageable for both administrators and employees
- Defensible for audit and regulatory purposes
- Measurable beyond completion rates
- Connected to the real risks employees face every day
When training aligns with actual business risks, employees are more likely to recognize why it matters and how it applies to their work.
Why aiming for 100% changes everything
One story from the webinar perfectly illustrated this shift in thinking.
Michael Sayne shared that his team consistently celebrated training completion rates around 95% or 96%. By most standards, those numbers looked exceptional.
Then a new CEO asked a simple question: “Why isn’t it 100?"
At first, the question felt unrealistic. But instead of dismissing it, the team started asking different questions themselves. Who wasn’t completing training? Why? What barriers existed? What could managers do differently?
Rather than relying on reminder emails and last-minute follow-up, they involved managers earlier. Managers received talking points before training launched, reinforced expectations during rollout and followed up afterward to make completion part of normal business conversations.
The result surprised everyone: Training completion climbed to 97% within two weeks. More importantly, the compliance team was no longer spending its time chasing 25% or 30% of employees and could focus on the final 2% or 3%.
As Michael summarized it, “100% was way easier than 90 or 95."
Setting a higher expectation changed the conversation. The goal evolved from producing a report with a good completion number to understanding and removing the obstacles that kept people from participating.
Managers help turn training into culture
This example also highlights another lesson for organizations of every size: managers play an outsized role in successful compliance training.
Employees look to managers to understand priorities, reinforce expectations and answer questions. When managers actively support training, employees are far more likely to view it as part of their job rather than another task to complete.
For SMBs, four training areas often deliver the greatest impact:
- Manager readiness
- Speak-up culture
- Workplace conduct
- Code of conduct and policy awareness
These topics help managers respond consistently, encourage employees to raise concerns early and reinforce organizational values during everyday conversations.
Training becomes much more meaningful when managers help turn it from an annual assignment into an ongoing expectation.
Measure what matters
Training completion will always matter. Organizations need clear documentation to demonstrate employees completed required education – but completion only tells part of the story.
Completions are a floor, not the ceiling.
Many SMBs are already looking beyond completion rates to understand whether training is making a difference. Data from the 2026 State of Risk & Compliance research shows that SMBs use the following to measure program effectiveness:
- 60% use hotline data
- 60% use investigation data
- 48% use employee feedback
- 44% use training data
Taken together, these indicators provide a much clearer picture of organizational health. They can reveal whether employees understand expectations, feel comfortable speaking up and apply what they’ve learned when difficult situations arise.
Looking at these metrics together also helps identify trends that may otherwise go unnoticed, allowing compliance teams to adjust training before issues become larger problems.
Prepare employees for real-world decisions
The most valuable compliance training prepares employees for moments that don’t come with answer keys.
A manager receives a concern from an employee. Someone notices questionable behavior from a coworker. A team member encounters a cybersecurity threat, data privacy issue or an unfamiliar use of artificial intelligence.
These moments happen every day.
Effective training gives employees the confidence to recognize risk, understand expectations and know what to do next. That means reinforcing core topics such as manager readiness, speak-up culture, workplace conduct and code of conduct awareness, while continuing to address emerging risks in cybersecurity, data privacy and AI.
For SMBs, that’s where training delivers its greatest value. Compliance training isn’t simply another requirement to complete. Done well, it helps build confidence, strengthens accountability and supports a culture where employees are prepared to make better decisions when risk appears – without adding unnecessary complexity.
How NAVEX can help
NAVEX One Ethics & Compliance Training is designed to meet your business where you’re at. Whether you’re a small business in need of a few core training courses, or a large enterprise with multi-jurisdictional operations, our training helps learners retain information through real-world scenarios and interactive courses.
From Checkbox to Confidence: Effective SMB Compliance Training
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