FCPAméricas Blog
Use of Multimedia in FCPA Compliance
1.25.2013
More and more, companies are using multimedia to convey FCPA compliance messages to their employees and third parties. Doing so allows companies to achieve an enhanced level of depth and impact in their compliance programs. Here are a few of the most interesting examples I have seen.
Substance: Providers like Click4Compliance are experts in on-line training of the basics of FCPA compliance, discussed in more detail here. These trainings can be targeted to audiences with foreign language needs. Messaging can be targeted depending on applicable areas of FCPA risk. Such providers are even offering handheld apps that allow employees to get real-time guidance on particular compliance scenarios.
Humor: Employees often see compliance as a burden. It is not fun, especially for employees whose jobs are to develop business. Compliance processes and procedures, including questionnaires and forms, take time away from the main objective, to increase sales.
But companies are using multimedia to help address this dynamic. In this video, a compliance officer takes the opportunity to make fun of himself and his function. The spot is funny and also has the effect of drawing attention to the essential nature of compliance at the enterprise. He accepts that he is not popular. But he also demonstrates that his function is necessary and permanent.
Others are using multimedia to make compliance fun. Use of videos is a way to get people to listen to messaging and take it seriously. For example, Second City, the feeder group for Saturday Night Live, is getting into the business of compliance presentations. According to one Second City actor, “You can’t make people change behaviors until they change their attitudes, and you can’t change their attitudes unless they pay attention.” Such approaches help compliance sink in. Companies’ compliance teams are starting to use them with more frequency.
A Mexican-based company with significant operations in the United States is even developing cartoons to communicate compliance scenarios. These cartoons incorporate the compliance officers of the company as actual characters. The results are said to be positive.
Reach: Multimedia also helps companies reach segments of their operations that might otherwise be difficult to train. For example, one Mexican company has determined that the most impactful communication medium for its factory workers is a series of segments on the radio, what they dub “Radionovelas de Compliance.” These employees do not have regular access to the company’s intranet or e-mail. So the company produces short radio segments in-house, each with a different theme. For example, one episode covers how to report instances of bribery and another covers the ways in which employees can obtain guidance on compliance. The company broadcasts the shows in common workspaces, such as lunchrooms. Sometimes it sends a compliance officer on-site to answer questions that might arise on the spot. This is an innovative way of delivering direct messaging to hard-to-reach groups.
Compliance is ultimately about changing culture. These new tools help make that happen.
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© 2013 Matteson Ellis Law, PLLC
Post authored by Matteson Ellis, FCPAméricas Founder & Editor
Comments
June 18th, 2013 at 4:56 pm
[…] be conducted in local languages. Trainers should seek to make trainings fun (FCPAméricas has previously suggested strategies for how to do […]