Create a Culture of Compliance

Draw the link between regulation and its moral objectives

When you can help your team understand the link between legislation and its moral objectives, it is much easier to promote and maintain their motivation for compliance.

Intoxication is an easy example; we cannot permit it. Simple. To explain the consequence of non-compliance as “we may get a fine and lose our licence” is not exactly inspiring. However, no one wants to contribute to injury or loss, and preventing intoxication is an effortless way to avoid this. Attaching a true story of the impact of intoxication on the community and an individual is a more effective motivator for staff to actively minimise intoxication.

Promoting respect for regulators

We are a heavily regulated industry with multiple government agencies overseeing compliance. Ensuring respect for the regulatory frameworks within which we operate is a key part of creating a culture of compliance. This includes not only understanding the intent of the legislation, but promoting the importance of regulators’ inspectorate function.

An inspector having a collaborative conversation about compliance with a venue employee provides quick assurance that the venue understands the importance of safe practices. Alternatively, when met with excuses and resistance for basic compliance obligations, the question becomes how far the resistance goes, particularly for the more complex compliance matters.

A comparison can be drawn between an employee and a manager discussing procedural matters. Should the employee display reluctance without cause, you immediately wonder what else are they not willing to do correctly.

No enforcement agency is immune to this, so we must instil respect for the compliance assurance responsibility placed on our regulators, understanding them as collaborators as opposed to perceiving this as a barrier to running our venues.

All engagements with regulators are either a confirmation the venue is operating well, or an opportunity to enhance its compliance practices.

Helping staff understand the moral objectives of legislation is a key driver for a culture of compliance.

Reward / Feedback / Feedforward

Rewarding behaviours is a fundamental way to increase their occurrence. Doing so publicly makes it clear to all that the behaviour is celebrated and encouraged. Simply shouting out a staff member demonstrating the qualities the venue wishes to promote is a simple way to promote a culture of compliance.

Feedback similarly can be complimentary, or constructive improvements that can occur for the same situation in the future. Feedforward comes before an event or occurrence. It is designed to make staff aware of their roles and responsibilities. It is proactive, providing the opportunity for staff to prepare their response before the potential situation arises.

A workforce that has the best intentions but does not fully understand its obligations can struggle to form a culture of compliance. Training, staff meetings, communications, policies and procedures are all ways to feedforward a staff member's obligations.

ClubSAFE provides several courses designed specifically for the needs of staff, management, and directors. These courses align with the requirements of the Club Gaming Code of Practice. If you would like to find out more, enquire today.