According to Glassdoor, the average cost of onboarding an employee is £3,000. This is why it’s imperative that every organisation, especially those in the financial services or other regulated environments, are willing and able to implement successful onboarding practices.
With the help of digital technology, many larger organisations have already started to streamline recruitment and onboarding procedures by reducing time between interviews and assessment centres and automating feedback processes.
Once decisions are made and offers of employment are accepted, many organisations leverage tech to facilitate onboarding using e-familiarisation, online attestations, and pre-hire “welcome” meetings with key colleagues and stakeholders before the first official day in the role.
Since it takes months for new hires to feel fully engaged in their roles, starters can be a huge drain on an organisation’s resources, especially at a time when we’re all being asked to do more for less. It’s no surprise that around 9% of all new recruits will resign their roles within six months of joining, with some regulated roles well in excess of this figure.
For many new recruits in the financial services, getting connected is the biggest barrier to integration into their new organisation, with local practices and ad-hoc systems and software fixes being commonplace. Several leading banks and investment management players have taken all compliance learning and attestation online, encouraging new recruits (and those changing roles) to learn on their own time.
The onboarding process should resist the temptation to be seen as box-ticking. While a simple “yes/no” response may be relevant in some circumstances, a deeper understanding of the risk and compliance environment should be demonstrated by all employees of whatever tenure.
Enlightened UK companies have restructured their onboarding programmes to reflect FCA advice and continue to go above and beyond, with CPD and effectiveness evaluation being a key part of the learning and development cycle. Compliance and ethics now play a vital part of the core corporate culture, with the key pillars being transparency, managing lower levels of risk, and maintaining compliance.
Ensuring that new recruits are aware of these pillars is a critical part of the onboarding process. For firms that operate within regulated environments, below are a few onboarding practices to consider:
5 Onboarding Practices to Help New Hires Stay Compliant
- With broadening corporate objectives and pressures of working within a regulated environment, regular performance management discussions should be encouraged with employees at all levels of an organisation, and expectations should be set early on.
- Firms should develop a whistleblowing policy to facilitate a culture of compliance for new starters.
- Ensure local and regulatory attestations have been completed satisfactorily using compliance software workflows that can automate and track required regulatory activities.
- Encourage ongoing training, including for any compliance software that is being used, any regulatory body responsible for sanctions, and any regulatory violations that can damage the firm and cause personal liability.
- Leverage compliance software to store important files in a document repository, including your firm’s compliance manual, for employees to easily access and review.
Implementing successful onboarding practices is crucial to ensure that your firm stays compliant. If you’d like to learn how ComplySci’s API capabilities can help, request a demo today.