A Conversation with Skillsoft and StoneTurn: Part 2 - Charlie Voelker on How a Risk Assessment Informs Your Code of Conduct

Welcome to a special five-part podcast series, A Conversation with Skillsoft and StoneTurn: From the Code of Conduct to Risk Assessment to Continuous Improvement. This week’s podcast series is jointly sponsored by Skillsoft and StoneTurn Group, LLP. In this podcast series we will explore the recently released 2020 Update to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (2020 Update). We focus on your Code of Conduct and how it is informed by your Risk Assessment, training on your Code of Conduct, performing a Risk Assessment and conclude with how all this ties to continuous monitoring and continuous improvement. Participants in this podcast series include: from Skillsoft, Charlie Voelker, Director, Compliance Products; John Arendes, Vice President and GM of Global Compliance Solutions; from StoneTurn, Toby Ralston, Managing Director, Jamen Tyler, Managing Director and Stephen Martin, Partner. In this second episode, I visit with Voelker on how a Risk Assessment informs your Code of Conduct. 

We began with an exploration of why the Code of Conduct is so foundational to a compliance program in general. Voelker said, the “Code of Conduct is a way of capturing the risks and the issues that the organization faces. These are the major concerns that, that the organization has in terms of the type of business it is in, where it is operating and other factors of that nature.” Moreover, “by capturing those major issues within a training experience that is delivered across the organization and to all employees, it helps to level set everybody within the company in terms of what are those issues that are sort of top of mind for the company, what are the areas that as an employee needs to be focused on. Also, for employees, the Code of Conduct is a source of that information and also about where to go for more help. In many cases, a Code of Conduct will point to other policies or procedures or other resources that serve to provide that support that employees might need as they go about their day-to-day business.”

One of the key themes of the 2020 Update was of the importance of a risk assessment to all aspects of your compliance program. Additionally, the 2020 Update made clear the relationship between risk assessment and Code of Conduct training going forward. A risk assessment informs the content of the company’s Code of Conduct itself by identifying the topics and the issues that relate to the risks the organization faces.

Join us tomorrow where Jamen Tyler, Managing Director at StoneTurn, helps us take a deep dive into Risk Assessments.

Webinar

If you enjoyed today’s podcast, I want to let you know about an upcoming webinar Skillsoft and StoneTurn are hosting. The webinar “Evolving Your Compliance Program” will be held on Wednesday Sept 23 and will explore how companies are leveraging data and information to improve and evolve their compliance programs. Information and Registration click here. 

Resources

For more information on Skillsoft’s compliance offerings, click here. 

For more information on the Skillsoft/StoneTurn partnership, click here. 

For more information on StoneTurn, click here.