Businesses across all industries have a variety of compliance regulations to which they must adhere. These complex regulations can influence business areas of employee benefits, including the Department of Labor (DOL), Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), among others. For example, over the past few years, the DOL has increased enforcement of federal laws, while COBRA is considered one of the most vital HR responsibilities.

To stay abreast of seemingly constant updates here are three tips to proactively and effectively manage regulatory compliance changes:

1. Establish a compliance framework from which company operations stem. This framework, once implemented, will stabilize the compliance change and update process. Memorialize the process by documenting critical compliance needs from each of the affected departments. Each department may have different needs. Keeping these all in one public location will help to ensure requirements are minimalized or eliminated. After each of the compliance areas has been identified, create a map of how the changes are implemented, who is responsible for what, and if a rollout or communication is needed, that process would also be outlined here.
2. Identify the primary products, services, or areas of operation where compliance changes will occur the most frequently. These are the practical business areas where departments will be focused on updating technology, manuals, training, policies, procedures, documents, etc. A strategic plan should be put in place for getting these updates or changes incorporated into the established business practices as quickly as possible to ensure compliance across all departments.
3. Regular audits will identify any gaps. Gaps are inevitable, unfortunately, even with the best planning—sometimes things just get overlooked. While an infrequent occurrence, the best way to prevent multiple issues is to not only regularly monitor the regulations and stay tuned-in to any changes or updates being released, but to perform an organizational audit. The audit should focus on training manuals, policies, procedures, documentation, or anywhere reporting issues may be a concern.

Regulatory updates are passed down through a PEO or HR services provider, like Vensure. Every industry has unique risks that need to be taken into account when creating and maintaining a safe workplace.  This includes OSHA safety standards and training, commercial transportation and driver/carrier forms, and workplace poster requirements.

Consider aligning updates or changes to regulatory requirements with organizational and operational activities. Designing foundational elements to establish standard compliance policies and business processes for all departments. Contact Vensure to learn more about offloading complicated regulatory paperwork and compliance issues.