Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub Reports are that there over 50 million people in the world living in modern slavery conditions, and, of those, 60% work in forced labor in the private economy. Ensuring that your organization isn’t sourcing from suppliers who victimize labor is both a moral and a legal obligation, with more and more jurisdictions enacting legislation in this area. Vera Belazelkoska, Managing Director at Ulula urges organizations to look to balancing this risk with a mixture of boots on the ground and technology. Both, she notes, have their virtues and limitations. While having someone visit a factory provides an eyewitness account, it’s expensive, and unscrupulous manufacturers may hide the truth from investigators. Technology solutions are less expensive, but they are not necessarily as precise as they could be, often providing country data, but not the granularity needed. Only with a prudent mixture of the two can an organization gain a better understanding of its supply chain and the presence, or abse

By Adam Turteltaub There are hundreds of Compliance Perspectives podcasts, and this is the first one that is a podcast about podcasts. More specifically, the podcasts created by the compliance team at John Deere. The compliance team there had long looked to a wide range of tools for reaching the workforce including a monthly email newsletter, channel on internal social media, an intranet site and even digital signs on TV screens at their facilities. Yet, despite all this effort, they knew they could do more. As Wendy Davies-Popelka, the Associate Director, Global Ethics & Compliance, explains, the compliance team was listening to and hooked on several podcasts, and it occurred to them that they should try and create one of their own. So, they did. The podcasts are generally 5-10 minutes long and are based on actual cases that occurred at the company. Investigators, business people and others are interviewed to tell the story, from initial allegation through dispensation. The series has been very successf

By Adam Turteltaub Psychological safety is a term we hear a lot in business and elsewhere.  It’s also a concept that Jen Mason, Vice President, Enterprise Compliance & Ethics at McKesson, thinks we in compliance should embrace. It means creating an environment where employees can feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, ideas and concerns without facing negative consequences. It’s not about being nice. It’s about listening, following through on what you say you will do, being respectful of the workloads of others and showing empathy. It’s also about not punishing mistakes, pushing people until they burnout and talking more than you listen. It’s also about having policies that are flexible but consistent. Listen in to learn more about how to create psychological safety, including at those difficult times when there may be a conflict. Listen now

By Adam Turteltaub We live, to say the least, in polarized times. While it’s easy to look to politicians as the cause, Karthik Ramanna, Professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and author of the book The Age of Outrage: How to lead in a Polarized World, argues there are other causes to consider. In the latest Compliance Perspectives podcast he explains that multiple factors are leading to polarization. These include: Fear of the future: Many believe that the world is and will continue to change for the worse due to factors such as AI, climate change and shifting demographics. A belief that they have been handed a raw deal: They perceive leaders have not managed the issues well and that they have been short-changed in the process by globalization and other factors An Us vs. Them Mentality: A climate of decreasing trust has eroded the belief that we are all in it together So what should compliance teams do in this era? He recommends humility.

By Adam Turteltaub The Corporate Transparence Act was a part of landmark anti-money laundering legislation passed in 2021. It was designed to shift reporting of corporate ownership from a hodgepodge of different financial institutions to the owners or the companies. As Jamie Schafer (LinkedIn), Partner at Perkins Coie explains in this podcast, the goal is to create a national registry of non-public companies that would be transparent to law enforcement. These companies had previously not been required to provide ownership information, which increased the potential for them to be used for money laundering purposes. Due to the complexity of the law and the many exemptions, as well as the fact that publicly-traded firms may even have to report entities they control, she urges organizations to read the law carefully to determine whether they will need to report. Listen in to learn more about the complexities behind whether your organization will have to complete what is, quite often, a fairly simple report.

By Adam Turteltaub Are employees where you work suffering from ethical burnout? What is it exactly and how can you tell? To understand more we spoke with Richard Bistrong (LinkedIn), newsletter author and CEO off Frontline Antibribery, who co-authored with Dina Denham Smith and Ron Carucci an article for  Harvard Business Review, “4 Warning Signs of Ethical Burnout on Your Team.” Ethical burnout, as they defined it, is a state in which commercial goals and demands are so overwhelming that workers no longer have the time or energy to consider compliance and ethical obligations. They simply want to get the job done and over with any way that they can. It has a number of potential roots including: Increased commercial pressures and targets, including goals gone wild Survival mode thinking Decision-making overload and speed Envy of unhealthy status symbols So what should compliance teams do to prevent ethical burnout? First, be aware of when the stress levels are high and any of these potential root

By Adam Turteltaub Back in November 2023 on a previous podcast,  Jason Meyer (LinkedIn), founder of Meyer Business Law and President of LeadGood Education, shared with us an interesting statistic: Estimates are that about 20% of the workforce has some sort of neurodiversity such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, sensory integration and executive function issues. In this podcast, he shares that with such a large population there are two risks that the compliance team needs to be aware of and address. First, the training and other content being delivered may not be effective for segments of the neurodivergent population. Second, there are Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) considerations to be addressed. The ADA, he explains, covers physical or mental impairments that substantially limit one or more of life’s activities. Thinking, reading and communicating all fall under major life activities and are affected by neurodivergence. Consequently, if you know or should know that one of your employees is neurodiverge

By Adam Turteltaub Governments don’t only want to prosecute companies for paying bribes. Increasingly, they are looking for companies to join with them to reduce the global challenge of corruption. To learn more we spoke with Shruti Shah, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption at the US Department of State. In this podcast she outlines several initiatives in which the business community can play an important role, working alongside state actors and organizations like the OECD. These include: Blue Dot Network Galvanizing the Public Sector GPS initiative CIPE's PROTECT program on critical minerals USAID's JET Minerals Challenge USAID's Doing Business with Integrity All of these programs have in common a desire to engage all the parties interested in reducing corruption, particularly in the developing world. As importantly, they reflect a growing recognition that the business community is a part of the solution. Listen in to learn more about what each of these initi

By Adam Turteltaub Woo hoo! You got the interview. Now, how do you make the most out of the opportunity to determine if this is the job of your dreams or of your nightmares? Lisa Fine, Senior Director, Global Ethics & Compliance at Pearson takes a break from her Great Women in Compliance podcast to share that you need first to focus on the basics, starting with who the job is reporting to, what the employer thinks the compliance program should be addressing, and what resources you will have in the role. Learning that information early, either from the position description, recruiter or your own online searches, will enable to you maximize the time in the interview on more sophisticated matters such what they anticipate the role becoming and how real the commitment to compliance is. Some other things to scope out during the interview: Is the job in-person, remote or hybrid, and how does the rest of the company work? If you’re the only remote employee, that may be a warning sign. What do the code of co

By Adam Turteltaub Fair Market Value (FMV) calculations in healthcare, if done improperly, can lead you down the path to civil monetary penalties or even prison. To help understand the challenge and how to meet them, we spoke with Bob Wade, Partner at Nelson Mullins and host of the Stark Integrity Podcast Series. Calculating FMV has proven to be somewhat of a moving target. For some time benchmarking multiple sources and calculating an average was sufficient. Then in 2007 the expectation changes, as they did again in 2021 in the final regulations under the Stark law. Now, the rules are transaction specific, requiring compliance teams to look at the market, benchmarking data as well as business-specific factors. If that seems like a lot, it can be, which leads some to outsource the work. It may be better, though, to do so only for larger transactions. He notes that, if you do outsource, be sure to give the third party the best data you have available, otherwise garbage in can lead to a garbage FMV. When yo

By Adam Turteltaub So how do you ensure the next time you’re searching for a chief or senior ethics and compliance officer that the search is successful? We put that question to executive recruiter Jamie Browne, Managing Director, Corporate Governance, Leonid Group. Jamie recently shared advice for candidates on finding their next position. In this podcast he offers a wealth of advice including: Focus more on a candidate’s hands-on experience as a compliance officer rather than education or industry background Be flexible on hybrid options: the fewer days you require in the office, the wider the geography it’s practical to recruit from Fully-remote jobs have the largest candidate pool since it’s possible to recruit nationwide Be sure to consider what personality will fit with the existing compliance team Define a reasonable set of stages for recruiting and the gaps in time between them so you can manage candidate expectations Be sure the salary is commensurate with the experience level you expe

By Adam Turteltaub Yes or no: Do you do investigations? Do you prepare questions in advance? Are those questions yes or no in nature? Did you know that may not be the best way to do it? In this podcast, Michael Johnson (LinkedIn), Chief Strategy Officer, Traliant, explains that closed-end questions are often unproductive. Worse, questioning the target of an investigative with the goal of securing a confession can be dangerous since it may yield a false convention and, potentially, a lawsuit. Instead, he argues for a different approach. Start by thinking through the report that will eventually be written and what factual questions it will need to answer. That can help you think through the potential sources of evidence. Next, determine who needs to be interviewed and in what order. When it comes to the interviews, take a cognitive approach. Establish rapport and help get the person talking by asking about their background and responsibilities. Minimize the use of closed-ended questions, asking, instead, op

By Adam Turteltaub The new EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) replaces the previous directive of 2001. While there are many similarities between the two of them, reports Ferry Vermeulen, Co-Founder of 24hour AR, there are a few key differences.  The GPSR now applies to all consumer goods sold, not just those that were not yet covered by other regulatory schemes. In addition, sellers are required to conduct a risk assessment to determine the hazards of the items they are selling. Other provisions include the requirement to have a responsible economic operator in the EU. It can be the manufacturer, itself, or if the manufacturer does not have operations in the EU, it can appoint an authorized representative, whose address must appear on the product. Manufacturers must also develop systems for tracing where their products go, in case of a recall. Listen in to learn more about the new EU General Product Safety Regulation and what your organization needs to do to comply. Listen now

By Adam Turteltaub The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, better known as the OECD, has long played a role in the fight against corruption. It’s Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions has led to the proliferation of anti-corruption laws around the globe and encouraged compliance efforts. In this podcast the OECD’s Ingrid Hampe (LinkedIn), Lead Policy Analyst, and Santiago Wortman Jofre (LinkedIn), Team Lead – Anti-Corruption and Integrity in State-Owned Enterprises , share information about another initiative of the OECD: Compliance Without Borders. A part of the Global Initiative to Galvanize the Private Sector as Partners to Combatting Corruption, and developed in partnership with the US Department of State, it pairs a compliance professional from the private sector with a relevant professional in a state owned enterprises (SOE) for three to six months. During this time the private sector provides hands-on support to help bui

By Adam Turteltaub Healthcare lives on data. Getting it to the patient and providers is essential for delivering quality care, but that can be a challenge. As Eden Avraham-Katz (LinkedIn), Vice President, Legal and Compliance at 1upHealth explains in this podcast, the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rule helps standardize how health plans and payers share information with individuals, in-network providers and other providers as well. Animating the rules is the goal of empowering the individual with relevant information so that they can make better, more informed decisions as well as benefit from more affordable care. Complying with the rule will require the development of multiple APIs to ensure data moves smoothly. To further ease the flow, the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard has emerged for structuring data, which helps ensure an accurate transfer. To ensure your organization meets its compliance obligations, she recommends beginning at once. You’ll need APIs to f

By Adam Turteltaub Dan Longhouse, founder and president, LHT Learning, wants organizations to change their definition of successful compliance training. Rather than just being about avoiding risk, he believes the training strategy should be designed to help employees understand why compliance is critical to business success. They need to see, he argues, that compliance isn’t just about avoiding negative consequences. It’s there to help them do their jobs better and make informed, ethics-driven business decisions. So, what’s the formula for success? His recipe includes: A one-to-three year vision for your training program Ready data to inform the training roadmap Training customized for roles, including relevant content and a media format that works for them The ability to address emerging issues A commitment to promoting retention Listen in to learn more about how to improve the effectiveness of your training initiatives. He also recommends podcasts. Listen now

By Adam Turteltaub What should you ask when first approached about a job by a recruiter? What should you ask during the interview to ensure that there is a cultural fit, and that the compliance program has management support? What skills do hiring managers want in compliance officers? And what’s the overall market like? To get answers to these questions we sat down with a professional recruiter who specializes in compliance positions, Jamie Browne, Managing Director, Corporate Governance, Leonid Group. He had good news: there is strong demand for compliance professionals, especially in hot areas like export controls. But there is also strong demand for a broad range of knowledge, with compliance teams globally being asked to oversee directly or indirectly a wide range of legal and regulatory risk areas. For a compliance officer looking to test the waters or approached by a recruiter, he recommends by asking for as many details about the compliance program as possible right at the start. That includes unde

By Adam Turteltaub When we think of third parties we tend to immediately think of the risks. But what if it is a third party that differentiates itself by the rigor of its compliance program? Such is the case with Swiss-based DKSH, which serves the consumer goods, healthcare, performance materials and technology industries. Tal Freilich, Vice President, Group Governance, Risk & Compliance for the company, explains that the strength of its compliance efforts have been a value add for the company and a selling proposition. So what does he see as a third party being vetted by another company? For one, he learns a lot about the company vetting DKSH. The due diligence process gives him a sense of whether the prospective business partner truly is committed to compliance or whether it might pose a risk to DKSH’s own reputation. He also sees common mistakes such as reliance on a one size fits all due diligence process. There is also an over-dependence on a process of asking prospective third parties for informati

By Adam Turteltaub Jay Anstine (LinkedIn), President of Bluebird Healthlaw Partners, recently wrote a blog post I spotted entitled How to Sell Compliance Without “Selling” Compliance. It struck home, and I asked if he cared to do a podcast about it. He said yes and explained in the interview that compliance is often seen as the “hall monitor” rather than a welcome party to business conversations. To overcome that he recommends we focus on several methods for changing perceptions. Establish Rapport Be more intentional about truly getting to know the business people. Learn about the market, the business partners and competitors that they have. Show them that you understand the business issues that they face. Take the time as well to better know them as people. Do Your Homework Know your audience and their operation. Understand their point of view and the issues that they face. Walk a mile in their shoes. When he faced an issue with hospital registrations, he spent several hours working the registration desk

By Adam Turteltaub In 2023 the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules “requiring registrants to disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience and to disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy and governance.” Michael Leach, Director, Global Compliance, for data security firm Forcepoint explains that with the rules comes a new focus on transparency. This was help markets and individuals better understand what publicly-traded companies are doing to manage this risk and in response to breaches. The rules also raise pressure on organizations to increase their cybersecurity efforts since no one wants to have to disclose a weak cybersecurity regime or worse, a breach.. The rules, he explains, have real teeth, with fines ranging from the $1000’s to the millions. More importantly, the required disclosures are likely to have significant reputational impact on companies. So what should companies be doing in light of the rules? In