At Go1 we're passionate about bringing the learning community together so that we can, collectively, address workplace learning challenges and share transformative learning experiences to help each other grow. Our meetups are for learning and development professionals who want to discuss best practices, strategies, and innovation in learning design, delivery and instructional technology.

We're very excited to announce our first meetups of 2019!

Please RSVP to reserve your free ticket here:

We will be bringing to you, Australia's best in learning and technology to speak about why HR & L&D managers should learn leadership skills in order to influence, impact and engage staff learning - how you can create a culture of learning.

We'll be holding the meetups in Brisbane on the 21th of February, Melbourne on the 26th of February, and Sydney on the 28th of February. All of them will run between 6pm and 8:00pm. 

Watch this space to find out who our presenters will be!

Our speakers will be holding an interactive conversation that will allow you to be involved in the conversation and walk away from this meetup with some solutions that you can start applying in your workplace straight away!

We're looking forward to seeing you all there!

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Learning and Technology Meetup: Taking the Lead in Learning at Work

For a long time, first-aid training wasn’t even an option. Then, as the need for programs increased, various organizations began developing them but only for people working in the medical field. Today, virtually anyone can learn how to save lives. Even better, individuals can complete courses and receive a first-aid certification through online courses.

One of the best things you can do for your organization is to offer first-training to every employee. When you consider that courses are easily accessible and cost little to nothing, it makes no sense for you not to provide your staff with an incredible gift.

Keep in mind that for some industries, first-aid training is not merely an honor but also mandated. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or OSHA, the requirements for this type of training depend on standards, regulations, and statute. For specific industries, companies must provide both first-aid and CPR training to their employees. Otherwise, these organizations become non-compliant. These include: 

Permit-Required Confined Spaces (1910.146)

Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution (1910.269)

Appendix B: Logging and Operations (1910.266)

Construction Subpart V, Power Transmission, and Distribution (1926.950)

According to OSHA’s laws and regulations, “The employer shall ensure the ready availability of medical personnel for advice and consultation on matters of plant health.” This means a company must have fully trained personnel on-site to provide medical assistance when needed to remain compliant.

Also, under OSHA’s laws and regulations as outlined in 29 CFR 1910.151(b), “In the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace, which is used for the treatment of all injured employees, a person or persons shall be adequately trained to render first aid. Adequate first aid and supplies shall be readily available.”

However, even if you have a business whereby OSHA does not require first-aid training, this is something that everyone would benefit from, making it an excellent choice. Unfortunately, you never know when an accident will occur, or someone will become ill. Whether from a fall, heart attack, chemical exposure, or something entirely different, investing in online first-aid training is one of the best things you can do for your company and your workers. 

Although not always, it has become quite common for first-aid training to include CPR. When researching different providers with outstanding programs, you should seriously consider selecting one that has coverage in both areas. In fact, a lot of the programs also include information and guidance of using an AED in the event someone suffers a heart attack.

The best training providers have a comprehensive program, which typically covers the following:

Of all medical procedures used, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is the most critical. This is why selecting a first-aid program that includes this is vital to your organization. After all, if a person suffers a heart attack during which time the heart no longer pumps blood, without CPR, that individual will die.

However, with CPR performed, or in some instances with the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), an individual has an excellent chance of not just living, but after receiving proper medical treatment, living a long and healthy life.

Over the years, CPR has gone through several significant changes. For that reason, even if your staff took CPR training before, they should complete a new course based on current standards. As for an AED, if you don’t have one at your company, now is the time to purchase a device and provide your employees with training on its proper use.

For any wound, whether big or small, controlling the bleeding is an essential part of first-aid. In particular, more significant lacerations that lead to a lot of bleeding can cause a person to go into shock and even die. Especially if your company requires workers to handle sharp objects, this part of training is crucial.

The first thing a training course on treating burns teaches is to stop the burn as quickly as possible. Some examples include wiping off the skin of someone suffering a chemical burn, running cold water over a burn caused by heat, and turning off the source of electricity for an electrical burn. Through online courses, your employees will know the best way to respond based on the specific type of burn.

A qualified first-aid training provider teaches people what they should and should not do if someone breaks a bone. As an example, rather than straighten the limb, a fracture requires stabilization by creating a padded splint. Also, instead of placing a cold pack directly on the break to help with swelling, the limb needs to be elevated. 

While sprains are not as serious an injury as a fracture, they still cause significant pain and can leave a person immobilized. Because distinguishing one from the other is often a challenge, sprains receive virtually the same treatment as breaks.

Sadly, the latest polar vortex to sweep the country took the lives of several people. With online courses for first-aid training, your employees will learn how to recognize this problem and treat it. Without quick and appropriate action, frostbite can do severe damage to the skin’s tissue, causing it to die.

Along with the bigger problems, first-aid training covers an assortment of less risky incidents such as blisters, jellyfish stings, nosebleeds, bee stings, and more. Of course, depending on the injured party and the degree of the injury, even something minor can quickly become a major issue.

Regardless of your specific industry, it never hurts to know how to treat both common and uncommon injuries. 

Although you could set up a training program with a reputable organization like Blue Cross or the American Heart Institute, that would require you to pull several people away from their responsibilities to attend class. Even if people go to a designated location, you might receive some pushback because it takes time away from work and home.

That is not to say that your staff doesn’t want to learn everything that first-aid training provides, just that it can be difficult due to their schedules and responsibilities. For that reason alone, providing your entire organization with online training makes far more sense. 

Have your HR Director, Compliance Manager, and L&D Manager review various courses, followed by selecting those that best serve your specific company. From there, you can have your employees complete the online courses during normal business hours or in the comfort of home.

Remember, the best providers have courses that usually take less than an hour to complete. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about disruption at work. As for your employees interested in completing the training at home, you might consider offering some type of small incentive or pay them for the time it takes to complete each course.

Without question, your best option for training is through a respected and trusted Learning Management System (LMS). That way, everyone has access to the best courses available, developed and often presented by qualified experts in the field of first-aid, CPR, and AED utilization.

Have your leadership team explore the possibilities with an excellent LMS and make sure they look for specific things to confirm that LMS has the first-aid training courses that you need and want for your organization.

While all first-aid training courses share similarities, preferably look for one with customized solutions. What that means is that beyond the more generic topics on the subject, you have the opportunity to use custom content that really drives the lesson home. Ultimately, this ensures your employees receive the precise training needed to comply with OSHA or your company policies.

When it comes to online first-aid training courses, the last thing you want is something so difficult that your staff absorbs none of the information covered. Therefore, select an LMS that is easy to access and use from virtually anywhere, even mobile devices.

Something else to consider is that because this type of training allows your workers to complete courses at their leisure, they can work through each topic quickly but without missing anything. If you offer your staff a platform that is hard to follow, it will take them significantly longer to finish the training. At the same time, they will begin to feel frustrated and disinterested.

Even for first-aid training, receiving detailed reports is essential. In fact, reporting is a key element of any LMS worth using. Focus on a platform that offers built-in training so that you can keep track of what each employee accomplishes. This is especially important if you choose an LMS without integration possibilities. 

If your company needs to remain compliant on multiple things, you could use the same LMS for first-aid training and other mandates by OSHA. That will help your HR Director know what each person has completed and will make it easier for your Compliance Manager to stay current on all compliance issues. 

Although not a “make it or break it” requirement, it would be ideal to use an LMS that you can integrate with your company’s internal systems. For example, this would make it easy to store information as to what courses each employee took and when. With that, your HR Director could formulate a plan to keep everyone current on training.

As with system integration, while not vital to your first-aid training, it’s highly beneficial. With a built-in assessment tool, your employees can perform an assessment whenever they complete a course. Considering they work at their own pace, this helps tremendously. Also, this eliminates the need to coordinate group assessment sessions, which would take time away from production.

Best of all, online assessments get pulled into the reporting feature automatically, again streamlining the overall training process.

Whether your company needs to meet strict compliance laws and regulations or you simply want to create a safer and healthier work environment, you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to provide your staff with online first-aid training. 

Especially if your business falls in a high-risk category for injuries, this type of training becomes critical. Another factor is the location of your company. If you have a rural address, it’s going to take first responders longer to reach an injured person to perform possible life-saving measures.

 Regardless of your situation, there’s no time to waste in implementing a program into your operations. Along with initial training, it’s just as important that you provide this opportunity ongoing. Again, you would need to do this to remain compliant but even without that, you want your teams to have access to the most advanced and current processes available throughout the year.

Along with online first-aid training, be sure you place several well-stocked first-aid kits around the building. Everyone who completes courses should know the location of the kits, as well as how to properly use each item included.

If you have a larger company, consider appointing several people to respond to medical emergencies to serve as the lead. Those individuals need to complete as many courses as possible, even earning a first-aid certification.

While there’s no minimum requirement set by OSHA, this government entity does reference ANSI Z308, I-2003, which states what you should have as far as the number of kits and their contents. 

Along with the more basic topics covered with first-aid training are some specialty courses that your designated medical response team needs to take. For instance, there are courses that teach people what they should and shouldn’t do when exposed to, or they come into contact with, potentially infectious materials, including blood, diarrhea, vomit, urine, and stools. For this, create an exposure control plan based on the courses available through a trusted LMS.

 Typically, organizations designate an infectious disease officer when an exposure risk exists. Through the proper training, that individual can quickly adapt to every scenario yet take the appropriate measures to protect one’s self, along with other company employees.

As part of that person’s responsibility, he or she would become educated on topics such as the following:

Using barrier devices, including eye protection, gloves, and masks

Washing hands after any contact with potentially infectious body fluids

Preventing injuries caused by needles and other sharp objects, as well as disposing of any object that would put another person at risk

Gathering and disposing of any contaminated items such as clothes and towels

For superior online first-aid training courses, Go1 is your best source. As a leader among LMSs, we offer an abundance of topics to prevent injuries and illnesses in the workplace, as well as for those treating the injured or sick individuals.

For more insights, 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.

How to choose a first-aid training provider

At Go1, we pride ourselves with partnering with the best content creators in the world. We also strive to provide our customers with the highest quality training content available in the market. For these reasons, we are excited to announce our brand new partnership with The Career Academy.

The Career Academy is an online education provider that ensures you step into their courses with your dream job in mind, and step out with your dream job in sight. All the while receiving comprehensive study support and valuable training that can be tailored to fit your busy life.

The Career Academy specialises in training for accounting software, such as Xero and Myob, and their certificate in Xero is now available in Go1 Premium. This certificate is a long course which covers off all the essential topics staff need to learn to be proficient in Xero software. The Career Academy are one of the most reputable Xero training providers in the market, consistently updating their training to reflect changes to software, new features and best practice.

Xero Bank Reconciliation & Managing Accounts

Want to gain access to The Career Academy's training? Sign up for Go1 Premium today! 

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Go1 and The Career Academy announce new partnership

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?

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!

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.