The content spotlight this week is on Interaction Training's course called Basic Written Communication for the Workplace. 

The types of communication that occur in the workplace range from a simple hallway conversation or telephone chat to formal written documents, meetings and presentations. Interaction Training have a catalogue of communication courses that cover all formats and mediums different people use to communicate in different ways in the workplace. 

Basic Written Communication for the Workplace is the course of the week, because it focuses on skills to help ensure your written communication best conveys your intended message. The course effectively balances the teaching well with practical exercises, to actually help to improve your written communications.

When building out a workplace communication learning program, written communication is often the first topic Human Resource Managers will include. Go1 Premium offers a variety of courses to help improve your written communication skills. This course is one of our more popular because it covers all the aspects required to improve writing (including your messaging and grammar) and is applicable to any format of writing undertaken in the workplace. 

The course contains a single interactive module which has an expected completion duration of one hour. The module is divided into different sections, which Interaction Training views to be the key components of written communication. 

The Writing Process = planning, writing, revising 

Grammar and Punctuation = commas, quotations, apostrophes  

Specific Document Tips = email, letters, memos, proposals

Each topic concludes with "practical exercises", which are essentially several quiz questions to affirm your learning. 

"Whenever possible, use an active voice rather than a passive voice because an active voice is always more compelling and immediate. For example: Mary hit the ball is preferable to: The ball was hit by Mary."

"Try to use short, declarative sentences and bullet points or lists rather than long, rambling sentences. As a general rule, if a sentence is longer than 30 words, then it is too long!"

Interaction Training is one of Go1's content providers that specialises in interactive files. The Interaction Training courses are tailored to an Australian audience, particularly the compliance content, however their Ready2work category of content provides general and varied content applicable to international learners. Ready2work targets the skill gaps of people entering the business world. Go1 is very excited to be able to make this content available to you, as it comes from subject matter experts and is great for Small - Medium Businesses. 

*Interaction Training content is available to all Global Go1 Premium content subscribers. 

Want more details about Communication courses?

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Enrol in this course to develop skills that will allow you to get your message across to others as well as understand the message being presented to you. 

Course of the week: Basic Written Communication for the Workplace 

When it comes to training, we often talk a lot about the importance of learning and acquiring new skills. 

But it can be just as important for your career to continually build on and develop your existing skills. 

You might be thinking it’s a waste of time learning about something that you’re already good at? 

However, think of it this way: would you expect a surgeon to stop their education once they’ve graduated from university? Or once they’ve reached a certain age? Surely not. 

 In a less ‘life or death’ scenario, would you hire a graphic designer who only uses tools from the last decade? They might be an awesome creative, with excellent design and communication skills, but outdated tech training is bound to let them down. 

 The fact is, learning should be a life-long process, for all professions. 

 All skills can be enhanced and improved upon, to help you become even better at your job. 

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, worldwide chief talent officer at The Ogilvy Group, believes happiness lies in finding your career sweet spot.  

“Your career sweet spot is the intersection of three things: what you’re good at, what you love to do, and what the world values.”

Continually enhancing your skills (even those you’re already good at) allows you to be the very best you can be, so you can make your own positive contribution to the world. 

Professional Development Needs to Be Ongoing

 Let’s look closer at why training and development should be ongoing for all careers. 

 We live in a world where new technologies are being released daily. New discoveries are being made. New knowledge is now available. 

For professionals working in fast-paced industries such as technology, it’s particularly important to stay up-to-date and aware of industry changes. 

Taking the time to invest in your professional development is one of the best things you can do for your career. By taking charge of your own development, you can make sure you’re filling in any skills gaps and keeping up-to-date with current knowledge in your industry. 

Enrolling in regular training for your role and industry will help you further enhance the skills you’re already good at, while also having the opportunity to acquire new skills and knowledge. You’ll also feel more in control of your own happiness and direction.

On that note, there’s another reason why setting aside time for ongoing professional development is so important: learning for its own sake brings its own advantages. 

 Making a commitment to life-long learning is known to:

Make us less risk averse and more adaptable to change when it happens

Help us achieve a more satisfying personal life

By taking part in ongoing training and committing to life-long learning, you’ll be keeping your brain sharp and healthy. 

You’ll also be showing employers (current or prospective) that you’re motivated to continually learn and improve professionally, which is a very valued trait in any team member. 

Why You Should Be Developing Your Soft Skills

Many employers these days are placing great emphasis on soft skills – those skills that help us become better communicators, leaders and team players.

So it’s not just technical skills that you should be focused on developing. 

In today’s workforce, hiring managers place a lot of value on employees who possess a good combination of technical ‘hard’ skills and less tangible ‘soft’ skills. In fact, it’s often the soft skills that matter when employees are being hired and fired. 

Let’s say you’re faced with two employees with the exact same set of technical skills. Yet these two individuals may be very different when it comes to attitude or the ability to communicate and work as part of a team. 

Which person will you hire or promote to a higher level – the candidate with the good attitude who is always willing to pitch in, or someone who has a track record of being negative and difficult?

Unlike intellect, soft skills such as emotional intelligence and communication can be developed and expanded – so why not invest some time in honing and developing your soft skills?

How to Enhance Your Skills with eLearning

So you’re ready to get to work on improving your existing skill set?

Many employees rely solely on the training provided by their employer for their career development – but there’s nothing stopping you from spending your own time learning and developing new skills. 

Think about the gaps in your skill set that are preventing you from achieving your goals. It’s very likely that you can find high-quality eLearning courses that provide training in those areas.

Employers – make sure you’re giving staff the opportunity and resources to continually learn. 

With so many online courses and eLearning solutions available, there’s never been a better time to explore options for professional development training. 

How to enhance what you're already good at – with eLearning

As we continue to expand our ever-growing content library to include the best content from across the world, we are excited to announce that Go1 has partnered with The Australian Red Cross to deliver First Aid and CPR in-person training.

The Australian Red Cross is one of Australia’s most recognised and trusted brands, delivering services, training and support to Australians for over 100 years. They are committed to building a better society based on people helping people and they support and empower people and communities in times of vulnerability.

Go1 customers can now learn first aid and mental health first aid through a nationally recognised Red Cross course.

If you’re an employer ready to invest in first aid training for your staff, Go1 can make this process a whole lot easier for you. Make your training process quick and easy by getting in touch with one of our Training Assistants. Go1’s Training Assist service will source your face to face first aid training, reducing any hassles associated with finding and booking training for your teams.

The Go1 Training Assist is free for anyone to use. Follow 3 simple steps and get quotes for your next training program without lifting a finger!

Go1 and the Australian Red Cross join forces

As we continue to expand our ever-growing content library to include the highest quality content from across the world, we are very excited to introduce Cegos as the latest content partner to join Go1.

Cegos is a European content provider specialising in soft-skills training, with a massive library of courses which can be accessed in 14 different languages, including Spanish, French, German, Japanese and others. With its international culture and French origins, the Cegos Group is both a keen observer and a dedicated player in the world of work and business. For nearly a century, Cegos has supported companies in their plans to transform and grow, advancing the personal and professional development of individuals worldwide.

In today's workplace, learning and development has become a key driver of competitiveness in the face of accelerated technological change in the working world.  With its teams, clients and partners, Cegos rises to these challenges by offering “much more than knowledge”.

Go1, the world’s largest onboarding, compliance and professional development platform, is excited to have Cegos come on board as a content partner. Together, we will take an innovative step towards unlocking positive potential in workplaces.

With a great coverage of soft skills training, covering every soft skills topic imaginable, Cegos is an excellent tool to use with large multinational businesses with offices and learners in multiple countries. Cegos training is currently available via the Go1 Marketplace and can be quoted for upon request.

We have 200 of Cegos' training courses available in the Go1 Marketplace, get started today!

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Focus is a beautiful calm state where work seems effortless and you can fly through your to-do list. But too often, work is one distraction after another and you end your day exhausted with little to show. The reason for this is: without training your brain exists in a state called the monkey mind. It’s called this because your mind moves from one thought to the next like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. Meditation is simply training for your mind, so that you can control your thoughts instead of your thoughts controlling you.

 Studies have shown many benefits for meditation from reducing stress to improving memory (1). But one of the biggest benefits of meditation is improving your focus. You can even practice meditation right at your desk. See an example of a desk-based meditation for focus, right here.

Practice meditation to achieve a flow state

Focus is that flow state where we can sit for hours without effort or distractions. Instead of wishing for home time, we achieve a timeless state of productive enjoyment. But focus is like a muscle; without training, internal and external distractions are going to win. If you ever feel like you’ve had a busy day but not achieved what you needed to, then that’s a sign to flex your focus muscle.

As a Chartered Accountant I know that some people think that meditation is some spiritual thing that only yogi’s do. And many view meditating as recreational, with no place in the workplace. But as a yoga teacher I know that meditation has real benefits for business and productivity. And the awesome thing is that a good meditation leaves you feeling great too.

What successful people do differently is that they focus on their priorities. They get the important stuff done before anything else. The problem with our minds isn’t too little activity, it’s too much unfocussed activity. The mind is a thought making machine. Thoughts are wonderful things, but before you realise it, all those thoughts take you away from your focus state.

First, achieve awareness, then achieve control

The first thing that meditation does is that it trains our minds to realise that our focus has drifted. Because the first problem of being distracted is that you haven’t realised that you’re distracted. “Look squirrel”. The next part of meditation is that it trains your mind to come back to your focus.

Some people think they don’t have the time to meditate but meditation will help you to break free from time-wasting activities. Meditation helps you to have a clarity of vision and drop into an enjoyable & productive flow state. Think about how much time you waste when you aren’t focussed. Simply put you’re going to be a lot more productive after meditating. As an added bonus, frequent meditators report needing less sleep.

Try meditating at your desk instead of drinking coffee

Sometimes our mind seems like a chatterbox, full of distracting thoughts. And at other times it seems like we need a double espresso before we can do anything else. But the wonderful thing about our mind is that it’s plastic so we can train it to do almost anything. When you feel tired or struggling to focus at work, instead of smashing another coffee, try meditating.   

If you’ve ever toyed with the idea of meditating, there’s no better time to start than now. Experiment with the 30-day meditation challenge and see what it does for your productivity, energy and sense of wellbeing.

A single meditation will put your mind into a focus state. And a regular meditation practice will train it to stay there.

(1)   https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation 

How to use meditation to improve your focus & productivity

The first few days at work are the most stressful for a new employee. It’s pretty challenging to start building a relationship with new colleagues while learning new corporate rules and trying to complete the first tasks. For this reason, it’s crucial to foster the onboarding process and help an employee to get to work as fast as possible.

The first step you should take is to write a welcome aboard email to demonstrate your loyalty and support. You should make new hires understand that they have chosen the right company to work with. If you have never written welcome emails before, check the following tips, which might help you:

Depending on the size of your company, as well as its policies and procedures, you will find it necessary to add the following elements to welcome email: 

Office’s working hours (you should mention whether it’s possible to work flexible hours)

Dress code (formal, semi-formal or casual)

List of required documents (ID, social security card, diplomas, certificates, insurance card, i.e.)

Moreover, you can include some useful new employee onboarding instructions:

Where to find a coffee machine, free drinks, snacks, i.e.

If you need to add lots of instructions in one email, it would better to create separate files and use them as attachments.

You should never start your welcome email with phrases like “Dear new employee” or “Hi there”.  The personalized salutation is a must for the welcome aboard letter. The first words of your email should show how much you value your new employee.

Also, you can add some information related to previous personal meetings or interviews with this new hire. Phrases like “It was nice talking to you last Monday” works pretty well. It will make an employee believe that you wrote welcome email from scratch, not just used a standard template.

Don’t forget to mention who is a sender of the welcome letter. Write your name and drop a line about your role within the company. Whether you are a representative of the HR department or a senior manager, you should explain in which way you will communicate with a new hire in the future. 

You should encourage new hires to ask you any questions related to the onboarding process. You should provide at least one contact phone number and email. Moreover, you can share not only corporate, but also personal contacts to ensure that new employee will be able to reach you on weekends in case of urgency.

Feel free to express your excitement about the new employee and his role in your company. You should praise his professional achievements and point out goals of the further collaboration. 

The HR generalist at PickWriters, has this to say about welcome email writing: “Your task is to show how happy you are to meet the new talented members of your team. You should be sincere, and then you will be rewarded with new hires’ loyalty and enthusiasm.”

You can also write a sentence or two about the company’s core values, mission and/or traditions. This is a simple way to make your new employees get acquainted with the basics of your corporate culture. Everyone, who gets a job at your organization, must be extremely proud of being a member of your outstanding team.

It’s not necessary to make your welcome email look formal, especially if you are going to reach Millennials. It would be better to set a friendly tone of voice to make your new employee feel more comfortable. This is the first important step you can take to break the ice and start building trust in a relationship.

Do you consider your company a big family? If yes, you should welcome a new employee with open arms just like a new family member.  Being friendly will help you to smooth the onboarding process and to boost your recruiting efforts.

The last, but not the least important rule to follow is to keep your welcome email short. Every word in every sentence should be meaningful. Otherwise, it must be deleted. 

Why it’s so important? The point is that modern people find long emails “irritating to read”. For this reason, you should make sure that a recipient will need less than 3 minutes to finish reading your letter.

Alexis Kleinman, Huffington Post’s contributor, says: “In most cases, the recipients don’t need as much background information as you think they do.” Crafting a welcome email, you shouldn’t add any general information regarding your company, which is available online.

Before new hires have started working for your company, you should address all their questions regarding their new jobs. In this way, you will prepare them for the first day at your company.  

Writing an email, you should demonstrate your friendliness and readiness to help. A perfectly crafted welcome email will convince new employees that they will be able to achieve their ambitious career goals within your organization. As a result, they will start working with great enthusiasm.

Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she has found herself as a freelance writer. You can find her on Facebook. 

How to craft a perfect welcome email to new employees

Compliance is the one thing a lot of companies fear yet the same thing enhances overall safety in the work environment. For you to keep your company in line with current laws and regulations, it’s imperative that you provide your staff with compliance training. As a result, they’ll have the ability to spot potential problems and know the correct way to handle them.

Before going into the specifics about the value of training, you should understand the consequences of non-compliancy. For whatever reason, some companies do not take compliance seriously, that is until they get caught. Then, they realize just how impactful their mistake was. While some of these companies recover, others don’t, meaning they actually fold.

One key factor to keep in mind is non-compliance is not only damaging to your business, but it’s against the law. Another critical thing to remember is because compliance laws and regulations change, it’s vital that you stay on top of current requirements. In other words, your business might have been compliant in 2016, but now in 2019, it’s not. Thanks to training, there’s no excuse to fall behind and end up paying the costly consequences.

Following are just a few examples of areas where your company might not be compliant.

Especially with discrimination, your HR Director and other leaders who hire need to understand the rules to follow. As a prime example, there are acceptable and unacceptable questions to ask job candidates. This becomes somewhat tricky considering potential employees need to meet a minimum age requirement, possess specific skills, have the ability to perform certain tasks, and so on.

The person hiring needs to gather critical information without breaking the law. By posing the wrong questions, there’s an excellent chance of someone filing a lawsuit against your organization. Again, thanks to compliance training for 2019, the members of your staff have all the needed guidelines to hire the right people while staying compliant.

Another potential problem area has to do with paying your employees the correct amount for the work performed. If you have workers who put in approved overtime yet you fail to pay them, you become non-compliant. Not only does that put your company at risk for a lawsuit but the state could also penalize you.

Along with paying your employees the correct amount of wages, you must pay them on time. Whatever schedule you set up for your business, you need to follow. If you have a payroll schedule for the 1st and 15th of the month, you can’t hand out paychecks on the 5th and 20th. For this, you need to provide your HR Director and Payroll Manager with the appropriate training.

Depending on your type of business, you must maintain specific licenses. As an example, a convenience store owner needs licenses to sell alcohol, tobacco products, and lottery tickets, along with the standard business and health licensing. The fact is without obtaining and posting your licensed credentials, you could have your operation shut down.

Without question, workplace safety is one of the most significant areas where companies fail to stay compliant. For every industry, there are set safety standards. By failing to meet them, especially if a worker sustains an injury, you could end up paying out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation, perhaps even more.

 When it comes to workplace safety, there are multiple things to consider, including machinery, processes, technologies, and so on. For the sake of compliance, you need a skilled Compliance Manager onboard – someone who knows the current laws and regulations and enforces them. 

Just a few of this person’s responsibilities include assessing all security measures, identifying potential threats and risks, and determining the likelihood of an accident. Your Compliance Manager plays a vital role within your organization, ensuring the safety and security of all personnel.

This too is another significant area to focus on considering the high number of breaches, identity theft, and even holding companies for ransom. You need a leader who has both experience and training to protect the integrity of your entire IT system. Failing to stay compliant could cost you in several ways. 

For one thing, you could face a civil penalty, which typically covers cases of wrongful neglect. There’s also the risk of a criminal penalty if someone discloses proprietary information, whether intentionally or unintentionally. If your business is healthcare, HIPPA could also hit you with a substantial fine. 

Failing to meet even one compliance law or regulation could have substantial consequences. Along with putting your employees at risk, whether an accident or by sharing personal information, this could permanently damage your company’s reputation. After all, customers want to do business with an organization of high integrity and honesty.

As stated in a Forbes publication, “A professional compliance officer understands the various nuances that can ultimately protect your company from problems and save your company’s bottom line and reputation.” This is why having an experienced and knowledgeable Compliance Manager on your staff is critical.

Compliance laws and regulations affect companies of all sizes and industries. Regardless of the type of business you have, it’s imperative that you provide not only people of authority but also all your employees with the necessary compliance training for 2019.

With compliance, you have a bona fide method for protecting your company, employees, and even your customers. Although there are multiple players when it comes to regulatory compliance, three, in particular, stand out.

 As the acronym for the “Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act” established in 1996, this affects any business that deals with personal health records or health information, including doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, psychology firms, nursing and assisted living homes, and dentists.

HIPPA protects a patient’s personal and medical information. Only after giving authorization can a healthcare professional or facility release these details. 

SOX, which stands for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, is a federal law that protects businesses from accounting and corporate scandals. According to this compliance law, organizations must handle things in a specific way such as financial reporting, auditing, and corporate governance.

 PCI, or the “Payment Card Industry,” protects credit card information. All the major players, including MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express, must follow the data security standards as part of this Act in an effort to reduce credit card theft and fraud.

As you can see, compliance stretches across all areas of an organization, from safety to patient information to credit card processing, and more. If your company doesn’t follow these and other compliance laws and regulations, you can anticipate a severe punishment that ranges from a financial penalty to actual jail time. Just one example, failing to stay compliant with SOX could result in a $10 million fine or more, as well as up to 30 years in jail. 

Instead of putting your company, employees, and customers at risk, take advantage of a vast library of online training courses. Updated to correspond with current laws and regulations, this provides an excellent opportunity to stay compliant throughout your organization.

With so many resources at your disposal, there’s no reason for your company to have any non-compliant issues. Especially as the digital footprint becomes more prominent in companies of all types and sizes, it’s essential that you gain insight into current compliance training trends.

For starters, a lot of employees prefer to take control of their learning. With advanced yet easy-to-use technology, you can offer your staff members a host of training opportunities, for both business and personal growth. Your L&D Manager would take the lead, but with overwhelming demand, an online course streamlines compliance training. 

In other words, you can provide your employees with courses they can take at home yet at the same time, have your L&D Manager organize group training sessions. That combination ensures that everyone stays up-to-date on compliance requirements.

By providing your employees with training, you not only educate them but also enhance overall morale. To them, this shows that you’re willing to invest in them as a viable member of your organization in helping them gain more knowledge. In turn, this positively affects dedication and production.

Standard training often takes weeks to organize, whereas online courses are on-demand. For example, if an employee informs a department lead about a compliance problem having to do with machine guarding, you could give that manager immediate access to several appropriate courses. As a result, that person could take quick action to avoid a potential disaster.

In the meantime, your L&D Manager could organize group training to address the issue among the entire team, so it has a better understanding of things to look for, whom to report to, and the correct compliance action to take.

When utilizing the right source, you can select among thousands of related topics. Along with immediate access, experts develop and often present these online training courses, all affordably priced. Ultimately, you prevent a serious problem and provide ongoing education about additional compliance issues that might arise. 

What that means is that you have an instant and long-term solution for keeping your company compliant. Again, the manager can apply the newfound knowledge immediately while your L&D Manager brings the issue before a large group as a way of spearheading future problems. 

Another hot trend for compliance training involves mobile access. Having the opportunity to complete courses via a smartphone or tablet has definite benefits. For instance, staff members who have a long bus, train, or subway commute could complete training on their way to work or back home.

Another consideration is that because many are glued to their mobile devices, you’ll discover that your employees are more apt to complete courses if they can do so using their smartphone or tablet. That’s not to say there’s no need for training via computer, just that mobile-friendly courses expand the opportunity to keep your company compliant.

Both digital and mobile content and delivery are vital components of a successful training program in 2019. As quoted in a 2018 LinkedIn study, “Delivering your training on multiple platforms, such as classroom, mobile, and on-demand, can help eliminate the time crunch for busy employees.”

Even with online courses, it’s imperative that you have a plan in place. One of the many benefits of e-learning is that your staff has immediate access to a wealth of information, whether in article, podcast, or video format. However, the goal is to create a plan so that when something comes up, you have already established a systematic process. 

For compliance training to work at its best, it must be engaging, effective, and immediately accessible. The goal in putting together a compliance training program is to cover all aspects of your organization to ensure they’re in line with current laws and regulations.

As part of your plan, you need to meet with all your department heads to identify potential risks. From there, your Compliance Manager can take the lead in reviewing and assessing everything to confirm any non-compliant issues. Obviously, a good training program requires input and action from your entire management team.

Keep in mind; you want compliance training to accomplish several specific goals. Beyond identifying possible risks, it needs to focus on trends, organization, and on meeting regulatory requirements. You want your program to appeal to your employees but also teach them about the critical nature of compliance and what non-compliance would mean to them and the company.

Start by identifying the ongoing requirements and training goals for each department within your organization.

Review current training for present-time needs to help identify any required changes.

Evaluate your current training program to understand both strengths and weaknesses. With that, you’ll have a clearer insight into what your new program needs to address.

Identify and then implement changes, making sure they meet not only current laws and regulations but also department and corporate policies.

Advise your employees about the training opportunities available. Along with specific compliance courses they need to take, provide them with a link to the training site where they can scroll through and identify additional topics of interest.

Have your L&D Manager organize group training as needed. Even for this, you can utilize online courses. Along with making the process more convenient and cost-effective, this creates an environment where your staff can collaborate on keeping the company compliant.

 Due to the critical nature of staying compliant, you’ll have no problem finding different online platforms that provide training. However, not all have the same caliber of resources and the affordable prices that Go1 offers. As a leader among Learning Management System platforms, we have a vast range of compliance topics, regardless of your company size or industry.

Kick off your 2019, by joining Go1’s Product Webinar. Learn tips and tricks from the Product and Content teams on how you can get the most out of Go1. 

The Product Team will be on hand to walk you through the newest product releases as well as highlight features coming soon.

Checkout the updated look and feel of the "Groups" tab and see what Management changes we have made to Groups. 

Go1’s search improvements are still underway; we will walk you through the latest updates to searching in Explore. This includes the changes to weblinks.

The Content Team will be on hand to walk you through the latest product updates and give you a sneak peek of what’s coming to the content space in 2019.

Highlights include our new premium providers and content Partners relevant to your region. 

Checkout the latest content spotlight on our blog:  www.go1.com/blog/topic-course-category-series

* Our webinars are recorded - by registering you will get sent the video recording

Learn about the latest Go1 Platform features and Premium content.

Are you trying to outperform your rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand? Do you blame your slow growth on your market? 

You could benefit from learning more about blue ocean concepts – an exciting methodology that can take you from market-competing to market-creating. 

This month, the Blue Ocean Academy is running a free webinar called Blue Ocean Discovery™ on February 28 2019.

This introductory webinar will show you how Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift are applied in multiple industries and business models and how blue ocean thinking can be useful to you in whichever field you may be in. 

Throughout the webinar, you’ll discover the systematic 5-steps to making a blue ocean shift process that will help to kick-start your journey towards a blue ocean!

The webinar is targeted for users who are just beginning to explore blue ocean and want to understand more about blue ocean concepts and methodologies.

Sign up to the free Blue Ocean Discovery™ 35-minute webinar session today!

Discover how Blue Ocean Concepts can take you from market-competing to market-creating

As we operate in an increasingly complex risk landscape, it’s crucial that companies get things right when it comes to compliance. 

 All organisations, large and small, need to make sure they’re being compliant with the relevant laws and regulations for their industry. 

This is important not only for the safety and wellbeing of employees, but also for the success of the business. After all, there are serious consequences of non-compliance, including legal proceedings, fines and penalties, and the loss of income and reputation. 

The best way to significantly reduce your compliance risk, while helping to keep staff safe and accountable, is to provide mandatory compliance training to all employees. 

With proper compliance training, employees will be kept up-to-date on the laws, regulations and policies that are applicable to their employment, while gaining a solid understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace. 

Wondering what compliance issues your mandatory training should be covering? 

Here are some of the key areas of compliance you should be including in your employee training. 

Workplace safety is one of the most important compliance areas and something that should definitely be included in mandatory compliance training. 

Companies face considerable fines and business impacts if they fail to be compliant with current workplace safety laws and regulations. 

To avoid this, and keep your employees safe on the job, employers must provide appropriate workplace safety training for all staff and take responsibility for providing them with a safe workplace.

That means delivering mandatory compliance training to all staff on workplace safety policies and procedures. Depending on your industry and job role, this could include modules in areas such as manual handling, PPE awareness, and emergency and evacuation training. 

Workplace issues such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, and inappropriate conduct also pose a significant risk to both workers and businesses.  

According to Safe Work Australia, work related stress and bullying is costing Australian employers $693 million every year. With the maximum penalty for breaching the Work Health and Safety Act being $3 million, it’s really not worth the risk of being slack when it comes to compliance. 

Unfortunately, company scandals involving ethics and corruption continue to demonstrate that many organisations are failing when it comes to building a culture of compliance. In the interest of your company’s reputation and long-term success, you must understand the importance of compliance and build an ethical work culture that respects and follows it.

Make sure you’re delivering mandatory compliance training on topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, and equal opportunity, to continually remind staff of important key messages. It’s important to look at the policies you have in place across these areas and the legal obligations and laws around them. 

Next on the list? Data management and security training. 

Unfortunately, many companies have experienced the effects of serious data breaches and cyber attacks. 

It’s really important that companies have effective security programs and policies to keep these threats at bay, to protect company data, as well as any sensitive and confidential information relating or belonging to their customers or clients. 

Earlier this year,­­­ we saw some very important changes around data breaches. These changes were made to increase the level of security for individuals, protecting customer data that companies have access to. Organisations will now have to prove that they are taking this issue seriously. 

Businesses that fail to show they have the right compliance measures in place – or are at least making efforts to – will face serious fines, with civil penalties of up to $1.8 million.

To minimise this risk, make sure you’re educating staff about data security and compliance. Investing some time and money in compliance training is worth the investment, to make sure your business is safeguarding against the event of a data breach or cyber attack. 

Training staff around this issue and increasing your cyber security is your best line of defence. You can learn more about the precautions you can take to protect yourself and your business from malicious ransomware and the risk of cyber attack here.

Using eLearning to reduce compliance risk

Now that you know the key areas to focus on with your mandatory compliance training, you’ll need to get things set up and running for your employees. 

If you’re keen to update and improve compliance training for your employees, moving your training online is a great place to start.

Using an eLearning platform such as Go1 Premium to create and deliver compliance training will help your staff engage with learning materials while completing their mandatory courses. 

The Go1 platform also allows you to easily track staff progress, see how each team member is going with the content and whether they may need additional direction, assistance or further resources. 

To make things even easier, you can choose to use your own compliance content with the Go1 platform, creating a fully customised program for your employees.

By making compliance training mandatory for all staff, you’ll soon have greater peace of mind for your employees and your business. Remember, when it comes to compliance you really need to get it right. 

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

Wondering what issues your mandatory compliance training should be covering? Here are some of the key areas of compliance training you should include in your employee training.