What is a Compliance Policy Review?
A compliance policy is a document that establishes the standards and rules for an organization. It ensures that the organization meets certain legal and ethical requirements.
This document has several benefits for organizations, such as reducing their legal risks, enhancing their operations, and building trust with stakeholders and customers.
Read the rest of this article to learn more about compliance policies and why they need to be reviewed to ensure they’re legally valid and professional.
What are the Types of Compliance Policies?
There are two main types of compliance policies organizations use. These are:
- Corporate compliance policies. These preserve the organization’s standards, such as employee behavior, data security, and financial processes. An example is a code of conduct.
- Regulatory compliance policies. These documents state how an organization should meet all relevant laws, standards, and regulations so that they avoid penalties or legal consequences.
Examples of compliance policies include:
- Anti-harassment policy. This protects employees against harmful activities such as cyberstalking and promotes a safe workplace.
- Data protection policy. This policy explains the measures that need to be applied to protect all sensitive information in the company, such as with data encryption.
- Whistleblower policy. When employees wish to report unethical workplace activities, this policy supports them by explaining the processes they have to follow.
- Financial compliance policy. This includes the important processes that the company must follow regarding their financial operations.
What Should a Compliance Policy Include?
A compliance policy’s contents will vary depending on the type of document required. Generally, though, here are some common sections you’ll find in one.
- Guidelines and procedures. These can include specific practices and processes, such as ethical behavioral standards that employees must meet.
- Training rules. To ensure that employees will be able to access and follow the regulations set out in the compliance policy, the document should include training guidelines.
- Purpose. This explains why the compliance policy was drafted and what it intends to achieve.
- Scope. The policy should specify where the policy will be used, such as in workplaces or on specific sites.
- Roles and responsibility. The document specifies who is responsible for following and monitoring compliance.
- Monitoring. Processes for reporting and monitoring violations will be included.
How Should You Review a Compliance Policy?
Reviewing a compliance policy is essential to do on a regular basis. It ensures that everything included in the policy is legally sound, specific, and clear so that you uphold all organizational standards.
Here are some things to look for during a compliance policy review.
- Identify all applicable laws. The compliance policy should refer to any applicable laws, such as GDPR or HIPAA.
- Check that it contains specific information. This is especially important in the procedures sections, as it must provide clarity on roles, duties, and deadlines.
- Avoid a generic template. While it might seem convenient to use a template for your compliance policy, you want the document to reflect your company’s specific operations, culture, and systems.
- Check that there are reporting processes in place. This enables employees to report any concerns or violations related to the policy.
- Conduct a risk assessment. Check that the compliance policy is still addressing any security and other risks since the last time it was reviewed.
- Check for document consistency. When reviewing your policy, you want to check that it is aligned with other important company policies and documents.
- Spot legal jargon. The compliance policy shouldn’t contain legal jargon that makes it challenging for people to understand if they don’t possess a strong legal background.
- Highlight complex processes. You should ensure that the policy isn’t so complex that it creates obstacles with procedure follow-through.
- Avoid too-strict compliance measures. While you want the policy to encourage consistent compliance and specify consequences for violations, you don’t want the document to be so strict that it creates an atmosphere of fear.
Do You Need a Lawyer for a Compliance Policy Review?
Depending on your specific policy and requirements, you could benefit from hiring a lawyer to review your compliance policy. It will give you peace of mind that the document is legally sound, professionally written, and accessible for your employees.
Here is what a lawyer will look for in your compliance policy.
- Legal requirements. They’ll use their legal expertise to check that your policy meets all industry and jurisdiction requirements, and spots gaps that could result in penalties or lawsuits.
- Enforceability. Lawyers will check the policy for any vague processes and revise them to be legally enforceable, protecting your interests.
- Complex policies. If your organization operates in more than one jurisdiction, a lawyer will ensure that it’s legally sound across locations.
- Policy alignment. They’ll check that the compliance policy is properly matched to other business documents, such as your vendor contracts.
- Professional drafting. A lawyer will use legal language that is easy to understand while being enforceable so you minimize your risks.
- Cleanup. They’ll revise any confusing language so that the policy guidelines are clear and actionable.
Do you need to hire a lawyer for a compliance policy review?
If you want to work with a lawyer to review your compliance policy, you should hire a lawyer from ContractsCounsel, an online legal marketplace that connects clients with lawyers who have been vetted on the platform.
Instead of having to find a lawyer based on contacts and recommendations, the platform sends you lawyers that are suitable for your legal requirements, in this case a compliance policy review.
Lawyers will review your compliance policy so that it’s legal, valid, and transparent. Here is how to hire a lawyer.
- Go to the ContractsCounsel marketplace page.
- Post a project on the platform - it’s free.
- Include details about what you need so that lawyers know what to expect.
- Once you post your project, lawyers will send you multiple bids.
- When you receive bids, review the lawyers before choosing one to work with, based on factors such as their client reviews, years of experience, credentials, and similar projects they’ve completed on the ContractsCounsel platform.
