It is generally quite obvious when a venue has a good grasp on their compliance obligations from the moment you park in the carpark, walk in the front door and are greeted by the team. Strong values create strong standards. One of the most memorable experiences I have is walking into a venue and smelling rancid deep fryer fat, pushing past empty kegs to make my way to the office area in which chaos can only explain first impressions. My gut told me if it smelt and looked bad it was probably going to be bad. Needless to say compliance was definitely on the bottom of the pile.
In over 9, or so years of reviewing compliance for hospitality venues, I’ve seen instances of complete disregard for company policy and procedure, I’ve listened to many raise cause for the circumvention of compliance and wondered what would happen if the same energy was spent in putting to a plan for complying. I have also been witness to watching compliance rise from the bottom of to do piles and sit comfortably within club culture. How is it done?
Here are my top 10 suggestions to get you back on track to creating compliance value, attitude, belief and custom.
- Set the tone from the top. Communicate the mission, values, and vision for your club.
- Dedicate resources – time, financial, people. Assign responsibility – it’s a team effort.
- Screen employees. Don’t let one bad egg spoil the basket.
- Accountability is great, but make sure it’s achievable. Don’t ask people to do things that can’t be achieved. Break it down into digestible and realistic chunks.
- Take time to understand compliance obligations and risks. Undertake a risk assessment or independent review. A fresh set of eyes will identify things that have become invisible on a day to day basis.
- Follow up – set reminders for important dates and time frames.
- Engage the team to see compliance as an asset not an interruption. Encourage team members to speak up when something is not as it should be. Bottom up approach is critical.
- Train team members in company policy and procedure. Try to think of ways that this can be done that are a little out of the box.
- Test compliance. Reward the team for compliance met.
- Report to the board on the status of compliance within the business.
Achieving compliance culture is not only possible, it is essential to adding business value.
