Noncompliance is a major concern for every employer, no matter where they’re operating. It becomes more of an issue for international firms, especially as they expand into new jurisdictions. Your HR team may not be familiar with payroll rules. Your legal team might not know every nuance of employment law. 

Most businesses only realize they’ve been noncompliant when they’re assessed a penalty for the mistake. It’s in your best interests to avoid these mistakes in the first place. 

You can look for these four early warning signs of noncompliance.

1. Employees Are Unaware of Policies

Sometimes, noncompliance happens because employees were unaware of the rules. You have a compliant company policy, but it was never properly communicated to your team. 

This leads to mistakes and behavior that isn’t in line with the law or your own company policy. 

Take the time to test your employees’ knowledge. New employees should be given copies of company handbooks, manuals, and policies. You should then administer a quiz to see how much they learned. 

It’s a good idea to test long-time employees as well to ensure everyone is on the same page. Finally, be sure to communicate policy updates as soon as possible.

2. You Haven’t Reviewed Policies in More Than a Year

Noncompliance often catches business leaders off-guard because they’ve had compliant policies in place for years. Legislation is often slow to change, but it does happen. Legislation regarding cyber security has seen major revisions, as the collection of data has become so integral in the business landscape. These revisions include the newly approved CCPA (California Consumer Protection Act). While only officially a state law, it can affect any merchants selling to Californians, even those out-of-state. Adopting CCPA into your business policies is the safest option to remain compliant. 

Since court decisions and legislative revisions can affect your business, you should monitor your compliance on an ongoing basis. Definitely review your policies annually. This gives you a chance to ensure they’re aligned not only with the law but with industry best practices as well. Compliance law sets a floor, but best practice allows you to go above and beyond. 

The longer you go without reviewing your policies, the more you’re at risk of noncompliance.

3. You’ve Already Had a Brush with Danger

Maybe you had a minor security breach and lost some data. Someone didn’t destroy a disk properly or lost a USB stick.

Perhaps the issue was to do with your payroll. Your team was late remitting your payroll taxes, so you were assessed a minor penalty.

These may seem like minor incidents, so perhaps you’re tempted to ignore them. They could point to underlying issues that will lead to more serious noncompliance.

It’s frightfully easy to fall into noncompliance with payroll. A missed remittance deadline might occur again if your team is struggling to keep up. Maybe your team is submitting on time, but they weren’t aware that the IRS has updated the tax brackets again. Now they must start all over again with no time left. Adopting use of the IRS calculator into policy could help you avoid this scenario. 

If you’ve had small compliance issues, it’s time to review and make changes. That way, you can prevent larger, more serious incidents of noncompliance.

4. Your HR Team Is Sounding Off

Any time an employee raises a potential compliance issue, it’s a good idea to follow up as soon as possible. With luck, there isn’t any issue, but it’s still best to put everyone’s mind at ease by investigating.

If your HR team raises the alarm, or your HR provider suggests you may need to revise a policy, don’t wait to review the information. 

Managing compliance is a big job, but the right HR provider can make it easier. Don’t wait for compliance issues to crop up. Stay on top of compliance by getting the help you need today.