Part Three - Keys to an Effective Employee Awareness Program
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Implementing a Program – 5 Keys to Success
In the previous article, we looked at the first three keys: 1) Clear policies, 2) Track and Test, and 3) Measure. Now we continue with the final two components.
This is another simple, but often overlooked element. Even the most studious and educated employees won’t be able to memorize all of your organizations policies. Nor should they spend their time trying. So once the policy distribution, acceptance and testing process is over, it is important to store your policies in a place where they can easily access them for review.
The solution does not have to be complex, but it should make it clear to each employee which policies are relevant to THEM. Searching through a file directory of hundreds of policies to find the one they accepted last month will not work. Just like the problem mentioned in the first key with large policies, if employees can easily find the information they need, they are more likely to just take a guess and move on. This is exactly what an effective awareness program is designed to prevent.
Your policy repository should also be easy for the policy authors and administrators to use. If the tool is difficult or time-consuming, then policy authors will be less likely to update policies (see below) when needed.
5. Update Policies Regularly
Nothing can derail a policy awareness initiative more effectively than outdated policies. Changes in the business, market, regulatory environment and personnel can all have an effect on the documented policies in your organization. If policies are not updated to reflect those changes then employees will soon learn that they are not reliable and begin to ignore them.
Policy updates should be communicated clearly and immediately. While it may not be necessary to re-distribute the entire policy for each change, it is just as important that you track the update communication process and manage it as seriously as you would a new policy.
If you allow your policies to become outdated, employees will begin to assume that all policies can be ignored and your entire program will lose effectiveness. Also, auditors will typically begin their audits by reviewing written policies and comparing them to actual implementation in your organization. If you haven’t updated your policies to match the requirements and the day to day implementation, you will fail your audit, even if the implementation is correct.
While the pressures and requirements for policy communication are constantly increasing, implementing an effective policy awareness program is not difficult. Not only will it help you address current requirements, but a quality program will allow your organization to adapt to new challenges quickly and efficiently. No one can predict what changes your business will face, or what the next disruptive regulation will be, but with a solid awareness program in place, you will be well positioned to adapt to those changes and communicate them to your employees.
This concludes our three part series on building an effective employee awareness program. For additional information please contact Polivec (http://www.polivec.com/).