The anti-bribery resource page

A-bery resource page screenshot

Does your organisation have everything in place to ensure it is complying with the Bribery Act 2010? Do you have the latest anti-bribery policies in place to ensure your staff are aware of internal procedures? VinciWorks has created an anti-bribery resource page that includes a host of free anti-bribery compliance tools and resources.

The resource page includes:

View resource page

Anti-bribery contract clause templates

Someone rejecting a bribe in a white envelope

Anti-bribery contract clause overview

An anti-bribery clause can be included in a contract whereby the parties commit to comply with certain rules, in this case anti-bribery rules, and understand that if these rules are violated, the contract will no longer be valid. Such clauses help maintain trust between parties and prevent corruption in both the negotiation and the performance of the contract. 

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Corporate Governance: The added value of eLearning

Can a comprehensive corporate governance training program prevent disasters? In January 2018 the giant construction company Carillion collapsed dramatically in the UK, resulting in a debt load of over £1.5 billion and the loss of more than 2,300 jobs. HR Magazine UK edition quoted a scathing government report which concluded that the collapse was “the result of moral failings on the board,” and that Carillion “ harboured a rotten culture.”

The unsightly demise was reminiscent of the implosion of U.S. energy company Enron at the beginning of the century. Investopedia reports that CEO Jeffrey Skilling used a questionable technique called “mark-to-market accounting” to hide the company’s huge financial losses from investors, employees and government overseers. Playing fast and loose with the accounting rules, however, eventually proved disastrous, leading to the loss of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, and several criminal convictions.

Although governments scramble to prevent similar corporate disasters from recurring companies need to place an intense internal focus, from the top down and the bottom up, on spotting, whistleblowing and eliminating bad corporate behaviours. Corporate governance training that focuses on setting proper guidelines is a good start, but companies also need to ensure policy compliance throughout the entire organization, so everyone is aware and accountable.

Visible signs Compliance KPI’s are monitored sends the right message from the top.

Whether the scandal relates to finance, discrimination, or regulatory failure it usually requires more than a single individual to be complicit. Setting out high standards and providing training during the onboarding process is a great start. However, HR can’t tackle the issues alone. Ultimately the tone is set from the top. What can be done?

  • Put in place an affirmative approach to whistleblowing
  • Create a leadership team that values an open culture
  • Monitor compliance levels to ensure that everyday behaviours follow the ethos laid down in the written procedures.

Corporate Governance Training can impact many areas:

The role of eLearning in Corporate Governance Training

eLearning courses such as the CPD Accredited Business Protection Pack can play a part in creating a robust corporate governance training programme. Training teams across a business to understand the broader threats the organization faces helps in reducing the risk of financial and reputational damage. There are in total, 16 courses in the pack, these include:

  • Anti-Bribery and Corruption: This eLearning course outlines core principles in relation to ethical standards, including hospitality and the giving/receiving of gifts, defines clear responsibilities for spotting and reporting corruption, and outlines standards for holding government officials, private organizations and individuals to account for acts of malfeasance.
  • Fraud Prevention: This course explains how employees can recognize red flags, report suspected fraud, and prevent organizational fraud.
  • General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR): GDPR, what does the new data legislation mean, and how do you ensure compliance.
  • Modern Day Slavery: This lesson provides a clear understanding of the different types of modern-day slavery, and discusses how businesses can prevent this heinous crime from occurring at every point in the supply chain.
  • Money Laundering: Because criminals may target business organizations for money laundering purposes, precautions need to be in place to deter this possibility or report any suspected illegal activity.
  • Whistleblowing Procedures: This course helps organizations clarify their whistleblowing procedures so employees can raise genuine concerns about suspected wrong-doing, and feel protected as a whistleblower.

The VinciWorks course content consistently evolves to keep the courses aligned with the latest in best business practices and keep subscribing organizations in step with the latest in corporate governance training.  The courses can all be branded and edited to provide a bespoke learning experience for each individual business to reflect their precise training requirements.

Don’t forget Policies: Ignorance is not an excuse.

Alongside eLearning courses, Policies, and Risk Assessments can be fully automated and deployed through WorkWize, the market-leading Closed Loop Compliance System. Adding tests to policies ensures that all participants read and understand the relevant information. A digital audit trail provides for future accountability. Taking policy compliance seriously sends a message and helps to reinforce the need to act responsibly, right from the top down.

Cyber attacks on UK businesses up 27% in 2018

A new report by business broadband provider Beaming suggests that UK companies are being bombarded by cyber attacks.

Their survey found that attacks are up by a quarter (27%) in the first three months of 2018. On average, UK companies with an internet connection experienced 600 attempts per day to break their corporate firewalls, compared to 474 attempts in the same period in 2017.

Surprisingly, the majority of attacks are not aimed at servers and databases. Hackers are instead turning their attention to smart devices and internet-connected gadgets such as building control systems and cameras. Perhaps these are seen as softer targets where their intrusion can go undetected. It is believed that hackers want to control these devices so they can later use their processing power to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks – or spread malware.

Part of the dramatic rise in hacking attempts can be attributed to an increase in attacks coming from Europe. 44% of attacks originated on the continent, pushing Europe to overtake Asia as the most common source of attacks. Over a third of attacks were launched from the Czech Republic and 12% originated in Russia.

Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, comments: “2018 has been the worst start to a year we’ve seen for the volume of cyber attacks on UK businesses, in large part due to an unusual increase in activity originating from Europe since the start of March.”

“Company firewalls and IT security systems have been under constant pressure from malicious computer scripts and we’ve had to constantly update our network-level protections to keep up with new and evolving threats.

“It is important that businesses of all sizes regularly review their cyber security measures, monitor their IT systems and communication networks for unusual activity and take all the help they can get to stay ahead of the criminals.”

Raise awareness with regular staff training

Your employees are on the front line of the data wars. Hackers often target employees as a means of gaining access to your systems, whether in the form of phishing, invoice fraud, or taking advantage of weak passwords. Once hackers have a window into your systems, they can search for valuable data and copy as much as they like.

Regular training is the easiest way to remind employees of their important role in maintaining the integrity of your systems and shielding your valuable data from competitors and opportunists.

At VinciWorks, we offer cyber-security training that is delivered online, making it convenient and affordable to deliver to small teams or large populations, wherever they are based.

Edit any off the shelf content for any LMS with CourseLink

At VinciWorks we understand that when you invest in our software, you will have existing systems in place that sometimes we will need to work with. This is something that we embrace as we know that by integrating with your existing systems, you will gain greater value and build further efficiency into your eLearning system.

What is CourseLink?

If you already have a Learning Management System:

CourseLink enables you to launch courses through your LMS, but with the added benefit of being able to edit and re-publish the courses on demand.

Upload Files Once to your LMS

VinciWorks provide you with access to our eLearning Authoring tool, WorkWize Author, to edit the courses. Once you republish the course in WorkWize Author, the changes are reflected in the course hosted on your LMS, automatically.

Edit content without the need to re-upload

All VinciWorks course content can be edited and re-edited with complete version tracking. The changes are reflected in your LMS without the need to re-upload any files, everything is controlled through CourseLink. You can even create your own courses and update them using the same tool.

Compare our system with the industry standard authoring tool.