Compliance Perspectives show

Compliance Perspectives

Summary: Podcast featuring the top Compliance and Ethics thought leaders from around the globe. The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association will keep you up to date on enforcement trends, current events, and best practices in the compliance and ethics arena. To submit ideas and questions, please email: service@corporatecompliance.org

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  • Artist: SCCE
  • Copyright: Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics

Podcasts:

 Cindy Morrison on Trust and Speak-Up Cultures [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:23

By Adam Turteltaub Getting employees to come forward and raise issue can be difficult. There is often genuine fear of retaliation, and many don’t trust that the company will do anything. It’s a topic that Cindy Morrison CCEP (LinkedIn), Director, Global Ethics and Compliance, Post Holdings, Inc. will be addressing at the 2022 SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute and tackles in the latest Compliance Perspectives podcast. Her own journey of discovery in this area was jolted by an assessment revealing that employees did not think the company had a speak-up culture. The key to creating one, she realized, is encouraging respectful dialogue. A true, two-way discussion is necessary to help build the trust that is so essential. Employees want to be heard, and if the company isn’t listening to them, they are never going to feel safe. Showing that the organization is listening begins with making the effort to know the employees, a difficult challenge in this remote-working world where employees tend to change jobs frequently. Still, it must be done and managers need to practice active listening and adapting communications style to the listener. It also means demonstrating that when employees speak up, actions are taken: bad actors get disciplined or fired, policies are changed or publicly reinforced. In addition, it is essential to remember that each facility may have its own distinct culture. That may stem from the history of the facility and who has worked there, or the ethnic makeup of the employees. It’s also important to remember that not all facilities in the same country will share a common culture. As she notes, their operation in Minnesota is 70% Somali. Finally, she underscores the importance of constant education. Make sure the workforce knows all the ways it can raise issues and what to do if they feel they are being retaliated against. Listen in to learn more, and then join us at the 2022 SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute.

 Vin Lacovara and Corey Parker on Risk Assessment Frameworks [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:37

By Adam Turteltaub What’s a risk assessment framework? How can it help? Vin Lacovara, Institutional Compliance Leader, George Mason University and Corey Parker, Director, Baker Tilly, explain that the framework is a document that should be tailored to the organization’s needs and starts with an inventory of applicable laws and regulations. Next, the responsible personnel and controls that are in place should be added, followed by a preliminary prioritization of risk areas. Then, more details can be added, looking on the more granular level. All in all, the process should take about a month. The harder, longer work comes next and involves filling out all the efforts that need to be put in place. How often should the framework be reassessed? That depends on the organization’s priorities and how high a given risk is. Any high risk area that threatens to literally or figuratively shut the institution down should be looked at more frequently to see where the institution’s risk mitigation efforts stand. To ensure that the framework is properly tailored to your organization, they recommend investing time in developing relationships with stakeholders to make sure their needs are met. The most important thing is to start somewhere, don’t let yourself get bogged down, and look for the process to develop and improve over time. Perfection out of the gate is not likely. Listen in to learn more about how to create a proper risk assessment framework.

 Rich Hale on Data Security and Privacy [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:57

By Adam Turteltaub The challenge of complying with data protection laws is growing more complex, with US states increasingly having their own laws or considering adopting them. This had led many to call for one national data privacy law for the US. Rich Hale, Chief Technology Officer, ActiveNav hopes that a national law emerges that identifies and normalizes the common threads in the various state requirements. Until then compliance needs to draw out those threads, itself, and provide clear advice on core requirements. Compliance teams, he advises, also need to resist the temptation to boil the ocean and try to solve all the challenges at once. Instead, as elsewhere, it is better to identify and prioritize the risks. Then, work in partnership with operations to implement effective mitigation plans. One key area to focus on is identifying what data the organization has and the justification for holding it, including understanding where the data is being used. That is often easier said than done, since many organizations do not have a full appreciation of all the uses of the data. Finding that information, he reports, is both a top-down and bottom-up exercise. Here, too, prioritization is critical. You need to determine where the data is used most actively, including the unstructured data. Listen in to learn more about how to get a better handle on your data in the face of regulatory complexity.

 Marsha Ershaghi Hames on The Board’s Role in Corporate Culture [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:14

By Adam Turteltaub Corporate culture, tone at the top, proper governance and the relationship between the board and compliance have all been frequent subjects of conversations of late. In this podcast, Marsha Ershaghi Hames, partner at Tapestry Networks, shares recent research into governing boards and their role in shaping corporate culture. The report, Assessing Corporate Culture:  A Practical Guide to Improving Board Oversight, and the research leading up to it, revealed that culture Is most definitely a focus of directors, and there is a strong need for board alignment on what the culture should be. Turning that vision into a reality requires building bridges and a partnership between the board and the management team. It also requires data to measure where an organization is and to track progress about where it is going. That is not all, though. Directors who formerly held compliance roles were quick to point out that there is a need to think beyond the numbers and balance quantitative, qualitative and anecdotal evidence. All these measures are essential to developing a holistic view. The report, which was developed after interviews with 40 directors from 65 publicly traded companies, revealed five keys to success: * Prioritize culture on the agenda * The board has to challenge its own culture * Monitor and measure, but also create blended data sources * Ensure that the culture is articulated and simplified enough that it can be measured * Calibrate the board and management structure to optimize the information flow The last step means enabling managers, including compliance, to communicate directly with the board as needed to give it a fuller picture of the organization. Listen in to learn more about how to help the board lead in shaping corporate culture.

 Chris Audet on Helpline Usage, Or Lack Thereof [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:17

By Adam Turteltaub The 2022 Risk & Compliance Hotline & Incident Management Report from NAVEX included data that showed that helpline calls, while increasing, were not back to pre-pandemic levels. New research from Gartner confirms that data, reports Chris Audet, Gartner’s Senior Director, Research. It also provides new insights into reporting and where organizations continue to struggle to win over their workforces. The drop in observed misconduct reported likely reflects, he explains, a decline in actual misconduct – a reflection of less opportunity for it – and a significant change in the landscape: the type of misconduct is changing. Bullying, intimidation, unwanted behavior and misuse of time and resources are going up. So what should organizations do with employees calling the helpline not as often? He recommends relying less on reporting and more on embedded controls, as was discussed in his previous podcast. In addition, many are seeking technologies that support narrow risk areas such as insider trading. Gartner is also seeing an increase, he reports, in questions about wider views into risk through GRC and other third-party risk tools. But, even with all that, the helpline is critically important to compliance programs. To increase its usage, the research suggests revisiting the value proposition about reporting. Expectations have change for the employer/employee relationship over the last few years. Feeling safe from retaliation is not the driver that it was thought to be. Their data suggest that there are other levers to pull. Listen in to learn about what those levers are and how to use them most effectively.

 Melanie Sponholz and Nick & Gio Gallo on Compliance Budgets [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:31

By Adam Turteltaub Melanie Sponholz, Chief Compliance Officer, WCP Healthcare, Nick Gallo, Chief Servant and Co-CEO of ComplianceLine, and Gio Gallo, Co-CEO and CTO of ComplianceLine have a simple message for compliance officers:  don’t be embarrassed about asking for the budget you need. Historically, they report, compliance budget proposals have not been strong, and some programs have even lacked a formal budget, which is consistent with the historical perception that compliance is a cost center. Changing that dynamic, they argue in this podcast, means taking a more positive approach and discarding any apologetic tones to the budget request. Instead, they counsel going in knowing the worth of the program and feeling empowered to create a budget based on the resources the program needs, just as other department do. Let management know what your goals are, what it will take to achieve them, and how much of an investment is required now, they say. Also, don’t worry about the data you don’t have. Instead, focus on what you have and know, and use it to support your argument. When presenting the budget, they offer three additional pieces of advice: * When facing feedback and hard questions, don’t freak out. It’s a normal part of the process. * Anticipate objections and concerns, and be prepared to address them. * Be honest. If you can approach the budget meeting calmly and feeling prepared, you will be far better off. Listen in to learn more, including what poker players can teach you about getting the right budget for your compliance program.

 Amii Barnard-Bahn on Delivering Bad News [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:28

Post by Adam Turteltaub No one likes to be the bearer of bad news, but if you sign up for a job in compliance, you are inevitably going to be one. The challenge is doing so in a way that is most productive. Long-time compliance veteran and executive coach Amii Barnard-Bahn has invested a great deal of time in studying this challenge. She reports in this podcast that social science has discovered that bad events impact us five times more than positive ones. We are programmed not to want bad news. Worse, messengers of unwelcome information tend to be deemed unlikeable and less competent. There is even some malevolence towards them, believing, usually wrongly, that the person got some pleasure from sharing the unpleasant news. So how do we overcome it? She developed a six-step process: * Psychologically prepare your audience * Rehearse confident delivery * Be present and fully focused * Convey benevolent, proactive intent * Explain without justifying * Add a sense of urgency Psychological preparation of the audience, she explained, is often overlooked. When people are surprised it can slow down their thinking and increase negative emotions. So, it is best to prepare people for what is coming. Then let them know what the cost will be, time involved and what needs to change. Conveying benevolent, proactive intent is about overcoming the gut perception that somehow you were involved, wanted the incident to happen or are to blame. Chances are you were not the one at fault and you need to help people see it. When you did make a mistake, take the blame, accept responsibility and then show a path forward. Listen in and learn more about how to make delivering bad news better.

 Philip Winterburn and Jane Mitchell on Compliance, Ethics and Disruptive Times [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:22

By Adam Turteltaub These are different times. We all know that we are living in them, and that calls for different thinking. But, what does that mean? To help answer that question we spoke with UK-based Jane Mitchell (LinkedIn), an independent consultant who specializes in culture, ethics, values and leadership and Philip Winterburn, Ethics Principal at OneTrust. As they look around at the business world they see that leaders are struggling to understand what the impact of the pandemic has been on the people that work for and with them. Given how much people have been affected by the last few years, there is a clear need to focus on culture, which Jane describes as the “corporate immune system”. It can be either an asset or liability when it comes to both preventing wrongdoing and managing the now significantly more difficult task of recruiting and retaining talent. Meanwhile, outside the organization, attitudes towards purchasing are starting to change. Customers, whether consumers or other businesses, want to know where your goods are made, under what conditions and how the raw material are sourced. If they do not like what they see, they are turning away. So what makes for a healthy organization in this environment? For one, broadening the conversation beyond the numbers and looking at how the organization can be smart, resilient and sustainable. That will be especially true over the next few yeas when a rocky, unpredictable economy is predicted. In terms of leadership, it calls for CEOs who truly understand what is going on, welcome the truth and encourage people to speak up and openly disagree. It also calls on CEOs to recognize that people want to please them and may be painting too rosy a picture. Listen in to hear more about how compliance and ethics teams can thrive and lead during these uncertain times.

 Lola Adekanye on Corruption Risk in Africa [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:17

Post by Adam Turteltaub While in most cases the pandemic created nothing but challenges, Lola Adekanye (LinkedIn), Senior Program Officer for the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) reports in this podcast that, in some respects, it provided some benefits. While initiatives to encourage transparency and integrity were stretched, employees endured indefinite periods of working from home and governments were challenged with their budgets, the commitment by citizens and civil society to promote anticorruption and integrity grew. So, even though the risk for corruption increased, there was also a rise in whistleblowing, particularly in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria. Most of the activity in this area revolved around the acquisition and distribution of Covid-related supplies, not surprisingly.  The transportation sector also saw a rise in corruption. Government procurement has continued to be a sore point, with many cases of collusion, price-fixing and kickbacks. But, consumer goods have seen a decline. For the long term she sees a collision between two forces. On the one side are traditional, authoritarian regimes with higher corruption. On the other side, which she thinks will prevail, are young people and institutions coming together to find ways to hold government and companies accountable. Listen in to learn more about the present and future of anticorruption efforts in Africa.

 Rebecca Wellum on Third Party ESG Vetting [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:04

By Adam Turteltaub Many organizations have grown accustomed to and developed protocols for vetting third parties for issues such as anticorruption compliance and privacy. But, with the rise of ESG, suppliers need to be reviewed for exposure on a much wider scale than ever before.  Can existing protocols be used, or do they need to be replaced? To find an answer we spoke with Rebecca Wellum (LinkedIn), Vice President Compliance & Diversity at GEOTAB. In this podcast she explains that in many ways ESG is a repackaging of things many organizations have been doing for some time. To make your process effective she recommends starting by defining the risk areas for your industry. Then, look at your material sourcing to understand where everything in your supply chain is coming from. Learn not just what the supplier is providing and how, but it’s suppliers practices and sources as well. When assessing vendors, she has found that in-person meetings are invaluable. It provides an opportunity to assess the cues that something may be amiss. These can include environmental health and safety papers and certifications that are out of date or a lunchroom that doesn’t look quite rights. Data points like these can give you a strong sense of the treatment of labor, and even the organization’s own sourcing methods. She also recommends insisting on audit rights upfront. That’s when your organization has the most leverage. And be sure, she advises, to allow for not just paper, but in person audits, including on a surprise basis. Small and medium-sized organizations need to be aware, she cautions, that this is not a simple task, but it is an essential one. Even if the company is not public and subject to the scrutiny of the SEC and shareholders, its customers are already likely to be increasing their ESG investment and expectation of their suppliers. She also highly recommends taking the time to document what you have done. Keep audit trails and be prepared to demonstrate what steps you took while selecting, onboarding and periodically reassessing your suppliers. Listen in to learn more, including the growing importance of assessing diversity as well.

 Reginald Youngblood on the Interplay Between Compliance & ESG [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:53

By Adam Turteltaub The relationship between ESG and compliance is as of yet not a fully defined one.  That’s not surprising given both the newness of ESG and the many similarities between it and compliance. While many see an overlap between the two, Reginald Youngblood, Associate Vice President Corporate Compliance at AT&T, sees more of an overlay with existing frameworks for managing risks.  As with other risk areas, there is a need to look at the financial impact, how often it occurs, the inherent risk and how it affects the business. He also observes that, like compliance, ESG touches an enormous cross section of the enterprise, albeit in a somewhat different way.  By becoming involved with ESG the compliance team, he believes, can have more contact with the organization as a whole, address issues in a new way and help define what ESG means to the organization. This approach has enabled the AT&T compliance team to open doors and become an active partner in projects that they never would have been asked to be a part of before.  In addition, it has provided compliance with greater visibility into the organization while acting as a bridge between compliance and the business. As a side benefit, the compliance team has also discovered new repositories of data within the firm, enabling it to better assess risk. In the end, he sees the relationship between ESG and compliance as a very happy one with great opportunity, earning compliance a seat at the table while creating greater appreciation for the risk management process and the focus on values and integrity that have long been a staple of compliance programs. Listen in to learn more about how to leverage the relationship with ESG.

 Eric Hontz on Compliance in Ukraine [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:09

By Adam Turteltaub One day the war in Ukraine will stop, and many companies will be looking to either enter or return to the country. But what compliance challenges might they face? In tis podcast Eric Hontz, Director-Center for Accountable Investment at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) shares that business may be pleasantly surprised when they return. Despite the war the government has been functioning on multiple fronts and has continued to pass reform bills. They are particularly focused on EU-related reforms as a candidate for membership. In addition, a great deal of government power has moved outward from the central government to mayors and regional governments, enabling greater transparency into how funds are being used. All of this has made the corruption risk in the country less. When doing business in the country, Eric recommends enlisting civil society groups as an ally. There are a large number of progressive business groups, he reports, working to stem corruption and encourage innovation. The success of their efforts can be seen in the many technology companies across the country. After the war ends, he expects the country to continue its trajectory away from corruption. There is a growing consensus that corruption weakens the country, and he expects returning soldiers to have far less sympathy for it. As for Russian sanctions, he does not see much risk when doing business in Ukraine.  Outflows of investment by Russians began long before the war. Listen in to learn more about what to expect when the day comes that your organization begins working in Ukraine.

 Gael O’Brien on Emotional Culture [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 9:42

By Adam Turteltaub For decades, if not centuries, the idea of being professional tended to focus on a cold, cognitive approach to work. Emotions were supposed to be secondary to a much more rationale form of management and work environments. In this podcast, Gael O’Brien, executive coach and columnist for Business Ethics Magazine and The Week in Ethics, shares the research of the late Wharton School Professor Sigal Barsade, who examined the impact of emotions in the workplace. Her work focused on how leaders can get culture right. Emotions, in particular compassion, were found to be very important. She also found that employees who feel loved at work perform better. Kindness, caring and feeling connected have a strong impact on employee satisfaction and retention. In fact, she found that employees are 10.4 times more likely to leave because of a toxic culture than they are to depart because of compensation. To create the right environment she is an advocate for an “emotional culture”, which she defines as the emotions necessary for a group to meet its goals. This culture, Barsade found, is transmitted through subtle signals such as facial expression and body language, especially of leaders. That’s a challenge in these Zoom times when traditional queues may be missing. To get the right culture she advocates several steps including: * Executives verbalizing, modeling and rewarding the emotions they want to cultivate * Mangers communicating that information to front-line employees * Surveys and interviews that ask employees what emotions they see in colleagues around them It’s both an intuitive and counterintuitive approach. To learn more about Professor Barsade's work, read some of her articles in Harvard Business Review (article 1 and article 2). You can also see the video of a talk she gave. And of course, click above to listen to our podcast with Gael O’Brien.

 Gabe Imperato on the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program FY 2021 Report [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:13

By Adam Turteltaub The recently-released Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program FY 2021 report contains a treasure trove of information for healthcare compliance teams. To gain a better understanding of lessons to be learned from this document we sat down with SCCE & HCCA board member Gabe Imperato, Partner at Nelson Mullins. The report makes clear, he explained, how much coordination and review there is now among the Office of Inspector General at HHS, the US Department of Justice and also CMS. As a result, a subpoena, or even an inquiry needs to be taken very seriously. Compliance teams need to treat these external actions as if they are a report of non-compliant activity. The report also reveals that there has been an increase in cases based on failures of organizations to appropriately collect copays. Some organizations have taken egregious activity that could be characterized as ignoring the obligation. In other cases the provider has made what it considers to be a reasonable effort to collect the payment – asking at time of service, sending follow up letters – others think that more could be done such as calling patients and setting up a payment plan. With no clear definition of what’s reasonable, the potential for a whistleblower case is high. The report also illuminates the challenges of Stark and Antikickback cases. In his opinion these cases makes it clear that if you are looking at a circumstances where on the one hand there is a potential source of business and on the other hand a potential source of revenue, and there is a financial relations between the two, it is best to bring in competent outside counsel to determine if there may be a violation of these highly complex laws. Kickback cases are very popular with qui tam attorneys, he notes, because of the difficulty in defending them completely. Looking to the future, Gabe sees a large number of Covid-related fraud cases that will likely take years to play out. Listen in to learn more, and be sure to read the report.

 Stacy Giwa and Marisa Hardy on Evolving Your Compliance Program [Podcast] | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 16:27

By Adam Turteltaub The ethics and compliance team at the University of Southern California (USC) wanted to revamp their program. Stacy Giwa, Vice President Culture, Ethics and Compliance, and Marisa Hardy, Assistant Director Compliance, explain that they went into the initiative with several overarching goals. They wanted to: * Bring values and ethics-related behaviors to the compliance program * Provide reasonable assurance to stakeholders that there are core compliance programs elements in place, no easy task in a large, complex organization * Be more proactive, and identify gaps, trends and themes so that one part of the organization could learn from another * Focus on partnership at every phase and build understanding of why a compliance program is important To make the evolution a success they engaged the compliance and ethics committee to help enhance the university’s program’s standards and framework. As a part of that, they framed out what compliance is responsible for and what belongs to other departments. They also obtained strong leadership support. The resulting program included an assessment tool that enabled both the team and the individual units of the school to evaluate their elements of the program. They also embraced transparency, letting departments know what information they are capturing and the dashboard they were using. Findings were reviewed with departments and characterized in a positive way, as opportunities for improvement. Improvements plans were set with 1-3 year timeframes, which set goals, but did so in a less overwhelming way. Their approach earned them overwhelmingly positive feedback from over 25,000 members of the USC community. Listen in to learn how they did it and to get ideas for how to successfully evolve your compliance program.

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