Health and safety management for residential, commercial and retail properties is an area of critical importance. Issues such as fire safety, asbestos management, water safety and electrical safety, can all result in damaging incidents that can have serious effects on the health and safety of residents and the image and financial success of the property management company.
Time is ticking on the Modern Slavery Act. Organisations with a financial year ending 31 March 2016 have a looming compliance deadline in September.
Under the Act, organisations with over £36m in revenue must publish a slavery and human trafficking statement within six months of their financial year. This statement should detail the steps taken to identify and eradicate slavery from the supply chain, including:
- Slavery and human trafficking policies
- Due diligence procedures
- Risk assessments and KPIs
- Staff training
Forming a proper statement takes months of preparation. Policies need to be drafted, staff must be trained. Now is the time for all companies affected by the Act to start laying the groundwork for compliance.
VinciWorks has released a complimentary guide to compliance with with the Modern Slavery Act. Written by experts on the new law, the guide details the steps you must take to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement. It includes sample statements, practical examples and checklists.
Today VinciWorks released AML 360 — the perfect refresher course for users that claim to know it all. Instead of rehashing the legislation and CDD procedures, the course goes beyond the basics by engaging learners with the hot topics of the day. The interactivity and rapid pace of the course creates an immersive experience in which users take an active role in the material rather than passively consuming information.
AML 360° is geared towards lawyers or support staff who have already undertaken money laundering training and understand the subject matter. It delves into more detail and explores emerging areas such as bitcoin and the Fourth Money Laundering Directive.
The course covers eight subjects in less than 20 minutes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2016
Introducing Human Nagware
Because sometimes email is not enough
London — Convincing people to complete their compliance training has always been a challenge. Work deadlines, client pressures and other high priority tasks all contribute to employees neglecting their online courses. However, training on topics such as money laundering, bribery and diversity is mandatory and important.
Due to compliance requirements, firms require that staff complete training, and expensive administrative resources are spent chasing non-compliant individuals. Moreover, low completion rates expose firms to regulatory sanctions.
How Nagware changed compliance
In 2011 VinciWorks improved the state of compliance training forever when it introduced its revolutionary Nagware. With Nagware firms could auto-remind employees to complete training with gently escalating reminder emails.
“Nagware was a game changer”, Howard Finger, VinciWorks’ CEO commented. “Overnight, course completions tripled. Firms were asking us to incorporate Nagware into other processes in order to increase compliance rates. To fulfil that request we developed Policy Tracker for tracking policy compliance and we integrated Nagware into the Risk Management System for control procedures. We are now looking at Nagware for the Breaches Register and the Annual PI Questionnaire.”
Nagware did not go far enough
However, Nagware did not go far enough. In a pilot programme with Local Law LLP to test the efficacy of different Nag regimens, the compliance rate never rose above 75%. Nigel Plaskitt of Local Law summed up the experiment: “We threatened, we cajoled, we sent ominous emails from the managing partner. Nothing seemed to work. There were always 15-20 people who did not complete the mandatory courses.”
The only solution was a human touch
Adam Sinclair, VinciWorks’ Director of Product was tasked with finding a solution. “We hired UX experts, social scientists, you name it; we threw every resource we had at the product. We tried iPhone apps, robo-calling and text-messaging. The best we could achieve was 85% compliance.”
Continue reading
In this webinar, Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris, founder of the InclusIQ Institute, discusses how unconscious bias could negatively impact the culture and competitiveness of your firm. She provides tips for overcoming bias and actionable steps to create cultural change at your firm.
The webinar will include:
- Best practice
- Case studies
- Practical advice
Please fill in the form below to receive instant access to the webinar: Unconscious Bias: Beyond Protected Characteristics
This recording is provided free of charge. If you found it valuable, feel free to forward it to a colleague.
One of the most powerful automation features in the VinciWorks Learning Management System just got better. Now, when enrolling group members in multiple emails, only one consolidated email gets sent – reducing inbox clutter.
What are groups?
Groups take most of the administrative burden out of determining who needs to be enrolled in which course at what interval. With groups users are automatically enrolled in the appropriate courses at the right time, based on predefined criteria.
Some useful groups that other firms are using:
- Automatically enrol new hires in a series of inductee courses
- Automatically enrol users in AML refresher courses every two years
- Automatically enrol different departments in courses relevant to their departments
If you license LMS pro or Enterprise and are interested in setting up or reviewing your current groups, contact us to set up a free training session.
VinciWorks attended a recent event hosted by Thomson Reuters titled Modern Slavery, Bribery and Corruption. The international panel included Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund, Dan Viederman, CEO of Verité, Duncan Jepson, CEO of Liberty Asia, Martina Vandenberg, Founder and President of the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center and Mike Harris from World-Check.
The panel – which coincided with the publishing of two new reports: Modern Slavery and Corruption and An Exploratory Study on the Role of Corruption in International Labour Migration – focused on the relationship between modern slavery and corruption. The discussion provided an overview of the current legislation around the world, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has been used effectively in the United States to prosecute human traffickers.
The key takeaway from the discussion was that slavery can only take place when corruption is present. At some stage in the process, someone must turn a blind eye, pay a bribe or falsify records to facilitate human trafficking or forced labour. Organisations should never be able to say “we were not aware” because the warning signs and the records of corruption are almost always there to be found. Continue reading
ASIC has started legal action in the Federal Court of Australia against German construction group holding company Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft (Hochtief AG), seeking a declaration of contravention and a financial penalty order against the company for insider trading.
ASIC’s action centres on the early 2014 on-market acquisition of ordinary shares of Leighton Holdings Limited (now called CIMIC Group Limited) (ASX code: LEI) by Hochtief AG’s subsidiary, Hochtief Australia Holdings Limited (HAHL).
ASIC alleges that Hochtief AG contravened the insider trading provisions of the Corporations Act by procuring HAHL to acquire LEI when, on, 29 January 2014, it varied previous instructions to acquire a large parcel of LEI (by pushing out the last day to purchase the shares from 31 January 2014 to 14 February 2014) while it was in possession of insider information, being that Leighton Holdings Limited’s 2013 financial results were likely to be at the high end of previous earnings guidance.
Hochtief AG has admitted the alleged contravention.
Updated Tuesday, August 30, 2016
In April 2016 the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was signed into law by the European Union. It will take effect in all member states two years after its formal adoption.
The regulation represents the most significant global development in data protection law since the EU Data Protection Directive in 1995. A “regulation”, unlike a “directive”, will be applicable in all EU member states without the need for national legislation. The regulation’s aim is to harmonise data protection law across all member states. It will supersede the UK Data Protection Act.
The changes are designed to make sure that people’s personal information is protected – no matter where it is sent, processed or stored – even outside the EU. They will give people more control over their own personal data. Continue reading
You can now have any report generated by the LMS emailed to you automatically, either weekly or monthly. The reports are fully customisable and can be sent to any recipient.