I’ll take a pint of COMMON SENSE with a dash of COMPLIANCE

I’ll take a pint of COMMON SENSE with a dash of COMPLIANCE www.sentrient.com.au /blog/pint-of-common-sense-with-dash-of-compliance Sentrient Ahhh….. Now that is refreshing….. Because these days, within Australian workplaces, there seems to be far too much workplace COMPLIANCE and far too little COMMON SENSE.

What organisations are bucking the trend?

The organisations that are bucking the trend are those businesses that regularly appear in the list of ‘The 100 Best Places to Work in Australia’. Whilst these businesses share many common traits, one thing that you will find interesting is that regardless of their size, industry sector or physical geography, they seem to recruit people with common sense and then train them on compliance….. NOT the other way around!

Now, we’re not suggesting for a minute that hiring decisions are made on common sense alone .

In fact, many of these organisations use psychometric testing for things such as mental aptitude, leadership potential and the like.

We’re also not suggesting that workplace compliance is not important, Because having reliable workplace compliance training programs in place accompanied by appropriate workplace policies and procedures just makes sense and is also part of an organisations legal obligations when it comes to things such as safety, privacy, bullying, harassment and discrimination.

However, what you will find is that ALL of them hire with an emphasis on good old fashioned common sense! The compliance stuff can follow after that. In other words, these organisations are incorporating a dash of workplace compliance to an already solid foundation of common sense.

Recommended Reading: Most businesses fail to communicate the ‘real reason’ for workplace compliance

What is common sense anyway?

Common sense is the basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge things that are shared by nearly all people and can reasonably be expected of nearly all people without need for debate. It’s the ability to relate to others and our surrounds.

You’d probably agree, it sounds a whole lot like emotional intelligence……

But that’s a whole other story! Unfortunately, for the most part, in an ever-increasing litigious environment, the general lack of common sense means that we have to spend far more time and money on workplace compliance.

But surely, for organisations that have an appropriate level of common sense, surely there must be a fast, easy way to compliance?

So let’s talk about workplace compliance?

1/2

Compliance is the action or fact of complying with a wish or command. Every organisation, regardless of how large or small, have rules and regulations. Even for those who pretend not to require compliance, perhaps their underlying rule is not to comply with ‘X’. But in saying all that, there are minimum legal obligations when it comes to workplace compliance.

You can be sure that whilst these ‘best organisations to work for’ do not lead with workplace compliance as the exact words or language used, what sits behind their onboarding, company values and modus operandi is a burning desire to make their people feel safe and to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.

However, because they are starting from a position of ‘common sense’ they are less likely to have that one rogue employee who goes about bullying, discriminating or sexually harassing another colleague.

In saying that, you will find that the best employers address safety, privacy and human rights matters at the time of onboarding and on an ongoing basis, typically supported by a compliance management system and ongoing workplace behaviour training.

It is often done via stealth, using values such as ‘do unto others’ using tag lines like ‘how may I serve’, as a way to educate staff on fair work related matters. Or other language such as ‘around here everyone is treated equally’ with training that talks to equal employment opportunity and the like.

Yes there are more formal documents in place such as workplace policies, there is all of the mainstream safety, privacy and fair work matters that need to be addressed, but it’s done with a PINT of common sense and a DASH of compliance and not the other way around….. And that makes all the difference!

Recommended Reading: Most businesses treat their workplace compliance system as an ‘insurance policy’

What is the perfect blend of common sense and compliance?

Like the heading of this blog suggests, a pint of common sense and a dash of compliance makes is the way to go.

So when it comes to the dash of compliance, an organisation like Sentrient can provide a fast, easy way to workplace compliance.

Sentrient provides the #1 workplace compliance system for Australian businesses, typically with between 5 and up to 1,000 employees, contractors and volunteers. It is affordable and can be deployed in just minutes, without setup costs or any of the stress associated with complex learning management system (LMS) configurations. It comes pre-loaded with legally endorsed workplace compliance training, a workplace policy builder and ready-made reports for audit purposes.

This makes it easier for Australian businesses to do the right thing and protect their people and their business from the ever-increasing cost associated with breaches in safety, invasion of privacy and workplace incidents such as bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination.

2/2