Experts and entrepreneurs alike probably agree that compliance has become a must. At the same time, it is clear that compliance is subject to constant change and that companies must constantly adapt their compliance management systems to the new requirements. For the future, it is therefore important to know what challenges lie ahead in terms of compliance and what trends can be expected.
The year 2017 already included two important core topics of compliance:
On the one hand, money laundering, which has become more concrete through the implementation of the 4th EU Money Laundering Directive. On the other hand, data protection with the associated challenges, especially for information security. The implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took place in May 2018.
Apart from IT and data security, another focus is the introduction and implementation of business partner audits. "The extent to which the new ISO standard 37001 can provide impetus in the prevention of corruption will be just as interesting to observe as the development of the relationship between corporate responsibility, sustainability and compliance in organisations. Ultimately, the measurability of compliance measures will continue to be important." 28
Future compliance must increasingly address the expectations of the company's stakeholders. "Customers increasingly want to be able to rely on a clean supply chain. Thus, the competitive relevance of compliance for companies is increasing," according to the authors of the study "The Future of Compliance 2017". When asked which stakeholders have the greatest interest in a functioning CMS, the customer was named most frequently with 62 percent.29
Against the backdrop of scarce resources - especially in medium-sized companies - the question of an individual, customised CMS continues to gain in importance. The differences in the respective compliance functions are due in particular to the industry to which the company is assigned. Many companies still orient themselves to IDW PS 980 (auditing standard). This is certainly justified, as it is recognised and also fulfils the most important requirements of an "effective compliance management system", as also required, for example, by case law. However, it must be taken into account that the structure of the IDW auditing standard - especially for companies that belong to a so-called "regulated industry" - must also integrate the requirements for specific regulatory requirements (e.g. Bafin requirements or GMP requirements for pharmaceutical companies).
In our experience, there are still very different views on the question of what compliance means for a company. Many managers still believe that compliance is limited to the fulfilment of regulatory requirements. In order to convey that compliance is much more and can make an important contribution to the corporate culture, we believe that more intensive information and awareness-raising is still needed in the companies. Against this background, we see the "promotion of the compliance culture" as one of the most prominent topics to be mentioned in the context of the future of compliance. Closely connected to this is also the communicative aspect, because building a compliance culture in the company requires intensive and targeted communication.
The fact that many companies also have other management systems in place - such as quality and/or environmental management systems - makes the consideration of integrating a CMS into existing management systems very important. This is all the more important because synergies can be created and costs saved.
28 Compliance trends in 2017, in: Compliance - Die Zeitschrift für Compliance-Verantwortliche, February 2017 issue
29 The Future of Compliance 2017 - Challenges and Trends in Compliance Management, in: https://www2.deloitte.com/de/de/pa- ges/audit/articles/future-of-compliance
Studied law and business administration, postgraduate studies to become a Master of Business Administration (MBA). In-service training to become a European Quality Manager (DGQ), a mediator specialising in business mediation and a Certified Compliance Manager (TÜV).
Eckart Achauer worked for about 10 years in the international insurance industry in the management of a Swiss insurance group in various functions (claims department, sales, assistance) before switching to management and business consulting in 1997.
As a consultant and managing director of various consulting companies, Mr Achauer has specialised thematically in organisational and process optimisation as well as in the development and implementation of management systems - quality management, risk and compliance management.
For the HR Consult Group, Mr Achauer is responsible for the area of compliance management. Within the framework of compliance audits, he analyses their organisational "compliance fitness", he sensitises and trains the management, executives and employees and supports the companies in setting up and implementing individual compliance management systems. In doing so, he always takes into account the specific risk situation of the companies. Due to his many years of experience as a manager and consultant, he is very familiar with the entrepreneurial challenges from practice.
If you want to offer your candidates particularly good services, you should know exactly the needs and wishes of the target group and adapt your offer accordingly. In order to be able to take this step, the HR experts of HR Consult Group AG conducted a candidate survey - in which more than 10,000 participants responded - to investigate, among other things, which services candidates place particular value on.
The top answers are no surprise: At 93 per cent, almost all candidates expect new professional offers from recruiters. Three quarters of the respondents assume that their profile will be actively marketed by the recruitment agency and brought to the attention of potential employers. A personal interview with a consultant is seen by a similar number of participants, 72 percent, as a fixed component of the process. This is primarily about individual service and the creation of a basis of trust.
More than half expect an aptitude diagnostic procedure / a potential analysis
In 4th and 5th place in the ranking come coaching and an analysis of potential with a total of 52 per cent and aptitude diagnostics with 46 per cent. Both procedures aim to work out the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate and thus possibly identify completely new professional focuses and career perspectives.
"The candidates' primary expectations of a recruitment consultancy are quite clear. We are supposed to help them find a job and that is exactly what we do. It is interesting, however, that the survey participants obviously attach great importance to a personal and individual exchange. As personnel consultants, we welcome this very much, because through direct and personal contact, wishes and goals can be defined faster, better and more clearly. Supplemented by the available analysis procedures, we can thus find the right job and the right employer for the respective applicant very efficiently and precisely," explains Mr Lars Osmers, HR consultant at SENATOR.
Within the framework of aptitude diagnostics, many personality traits are scrutinised. The so-called key criteria are particularly important.
The question often arises as to which prerequisites the candidate must absolutely fulfil in order to be able to successfully cope with the requirements of a job position. Or which personality traits are decisive for the success or failure of a job holder. Answers to these questions are provided by the key criteria from aptitude diagnostics.
In contrast to the criteria defined as key criteria by superiors or personnel developers for respective positions, the key criteria of the aptitude diagnostics at HR Consult Group AG result from the most significant characteristics of the available comparison group.
The 10 key criteria of a norm or best practice profile are generated from the results of the group itself. These are the ones that have the smallest spread. Here, the agreement of the expression is the highest.
The evaluations of the test results for the different characteristics each show different scatter (see sample evaluation above), i.e. the range of test results varies from characteristic to characteristic. This is due to the fact that the test person of a comparison group assesses the individual characteristics differently.
The decisive factor here is that the range of the trait is very narrow, i.e. the test person forms an almost identical assessment of this topic and thus agrees with the comparison group that this trait is significant for this occupational group precisely in this form. Thus, personality traits that have the lowest dispersion / range become the key criterion for the respective position- or occupation-specific norm or best practice group.
Thus, key criteria have the highest significance (importance). These are checked using the values of the standard deviations. If the standard deviation is low, the scatter caused by the values of the different tests is also low. This means that the values are closer to the mean. This results in a smaller range and therefore a more distinct and significant characteristic, which is called the key criterion.
If a result value of the candidate, as seen in the example above, lands within the coloured bandwidth, the candidate is within the comparison profile. If the result is lower, i.e. to the left of the spread of the comparison group, the candidate has a clearly different assessment of this characteristic than his/her comparison group. In this case, it should be specifically questioned why the candidate assesses himself/herself in this way. This is usually a characteristic with development potential.
If the candidate's score is to the right of the coloured band, he or she is stronger than the comparison group in this respect, which is usually a sign of strength. The percentages on the far right indicate the exact values of the average of the comparison group, the candidate's value and the delta calculated from this, i.e. the exact deviation from the average of the comparison group.
The key criteria can be sorted according to the degree of significance. Depending on the procedure chosen, a number of criteria are then selected and evaluated as key criteria. Various methods are conceivable and can be implemented in a meaningful way:
On the one hand, a fixed number of criteria can be tapped, e.g. the first five or ten criteria. On the other hand, a percentage number can also be set so that, for example, 20 % of all criteria are considered key criteria that have the lowest dispersion.
The great insight is that the key criteria for successfully holding a position are self-evident and do not have to be determined in laborious coordination processes with the specialist and HR departments.
The next article in our series of topics is about the soft skills, which are almost identical in the characteristics of a successful professional group.
After graduating as an automotive engineer and industrial engineer, he began his career in the automotive industry in the areas of sales, development and marketing and also spent a year in Japan with one of the largest automotive suppliers.
He then moved to a world-renowned premium car manufacturer, where he was responsible for product marketing in Japan and South America and marketing strategy in North and South America.
In 1994 he decided to become self-employed and founded a personnel consultancy in Munich, where he has been driving development and expansion for over 20 years. As managing director, his industry focus is naturally on the automotive world as well as mechanical and plant engineering.
With his doctorate in the field of aptitude diagnostics, he ideally rounds off his fields of competence, especially with regard to personnel and management consultancy. The dissertation deals with the identification and proof of typical personality traits of engineers as well as the definition of development areas for a successful professional career.
These are scientifically derived and presented in the book "Eignungsdiagnostik im Praxiseinsatz".
At the same time, his focus is on building networks and cooperation models as well as the continuous further development of systems and processes in HR consulting.
Within the last 20 years in personnel consulting, he has developed several brands that are still successful on the market today.
It's back in fashion: appreciation in corporate culture and employee management. However, it is not only about making employees feel good. Appreciative behaviour even towards "hard-nosed" colleagues leads to higher motivation. But this is far from the end of the chain of pleasing things, it has only just begun. If you are motivated, you are willing to do more. Perhaps to work overtime for once, where one has otherwise hidden behind duty according to the rules. To "take sick leave" less and volunteer for one's company. Thinking for yourself instead of letting others do it for you.
Now a boss might say that our employees have it good with us. They shouldn't complain, after all they get their secure salary every month. But do the employees see it the same way? It is worthwhile to take a look behind the facade of the employees to see if the well-intentioned is actually received.
The reason is quite simple: we are living in a time of demographic change. The baby boomers born between 1960 and 1970 will be available to the labour market for another 10 years, and in many sectors there is already a noticeable shortage of skilled workers. What does this have to do with appreciation? People who can choose where they work are more likely to choose an employer who shows appreciation for their people. Where the boss recognises their work, where they can feel the full meaning of praise. Where communication of appreciation is cultivated between managers, employees and business partners. Where they feel like stepping through the company gate again on Monday morning and find it a shame on Friday afternoon that work is now interrupted at the weekend. Where fluctuation is lower because people feel that you mean well for them.
No manager should think that the corporate culture - whether "stinky" or appreciative - goes unnoticed to the outside world. Many companies are rated by applicants and current employees on internet portals like kununu.de. And especially in the regional environment, word of mouth still counts for a lot. This means that potential employees already have a realistic picture of what to expect. If it's appealing, workers will run towards you. If it is off-putting, you will run after the applicants. The level of appreciation in the company culture is a major key to which way the pendulum swings.
Andreas Otterbach is an expert in excellence in human resources and corporate management. His focus is on human resources and organisational development, especially the development of an appreciative leadership culture. He also supports specialists and managers in individual coaching sessions.
As a professor of business administration and corporate management at the Stuttgart Media University, Andreas Otterbach's research focuses on the success factors of hidden champions, especially in human resources management. Many insights can be derived from this that also benefit small and medium-sized enterprises. His book "Führend durch Wertschätzung" (2017) provides a good insight into this topic.
Andreas Otterbach is a business trainer and systemic coach, both certified by the German Association for Coaching and Training (DVCT). These skills enable him to work in a very personal and targeted way with the clients he supports.
Further stages of his education include a degree in business administration and a doctorate at the University of Bamberg. He also holds a degree in banking management.
For HR Consult Group AG, Mr Otterbach accompanies the area of "Leadership through Appreciation". Oriented on the Hidden Champions research, he supports companies and their executives in implementing an appreciative corporate and leadership culture. The group of "small world market leaders" shows exceptional characteristics in these core elements, which have also led to exceptional business success. And our clients benefit from this knowledge!
Candidates are often approached by HR consultants or companies directly by phone or via business networks such as Xing or LinkedIn, even without having actively applied. The HR experts at HR Consult Group AG wanted to know what candidates think about this unsolicited contact. They examined this topic in a survey to which more than 10,000 participants responded. The aim of the study is to get to know the candidates even better in order to adapt the offer of the personnel consultancies as precisely as possible to their wishes and needs.
The result is clear: an overwhelming majority of participants (97 per cent) agree to be contacted even though the candidate has not actively applied. Of these, 35 per cent said they only wanted to be contacted by direct approach in connection with a concrete offer.
Only 7 percent would like to be contacted exclusively via social media (e.g. Xing and LinkedIn) and a total of 3 percent not at all.
"No prospective candidate has any desire for long searches on job exchanges or tedious application forms dictated by applicant management systems. In comparison, approaching a candidate through a recruitment consultant is simple, fast and very convenient for the candidate. The recruiter makes it easy for the candidate and can position himself as a friendly supporter and partner along the way. At the same time, the basic willingness to change in the current job market is very high, so that personally suggested, attractive offers often lead to a filling," explains HERR MIRKO BAHR, personnel consultant at Senator Executive Search Partners GmbH, the survey results.
After graduating as an automotive engineer and industrial engineer, he began his career in the automotive industry in the areas of sales, development and marketing and also spent a year in Japan with one of the largest automotive suppliers.
He then moved to a world-renowned premium car manufacturer, where he was responsible for product marketing in Japan and South America and marketing strategy in North and South America.
In 1994 he decided to become self-employed and founded a personnel consultancy in Munich, where he has been driving development and expansion for over 20 years. As managing director, his industry focus is naturally on the automotive world as well as mechanical and plant engineering.
With his doctorate in the field of aptitude diagnostics, he ideally rounds off his fields of competence, especially with regard to personnel and management consultancy. The dissertation deals with the identification and proof of typical personality traits of engineers as well as the definition of development areas for a successful professional career.
These are scientifically derived and presented in the book "Eignungsdiagnostik im Praxiseinsatz".
At the same time, his focus is on building networks and cooperation models as well as the continuous further development of systems and processes in HR consulting.
Within the last 20 years in personnel consulting, he has developed several brands that are still successful on the market today.
