Problem: 200,000+ employees are each mandated to take 25 to 30 classes every year which, for the most part, have NO RELEVANCE to our jobs. Forcing a Mutual Funds back office clerk to take classes on annuities, bribing foreign officials and the Volcker Rule etc is a foolish and ineffective approach to reducing risk because the “training” is irrelevant to his/her work. This causes employees to disengage and mindlessly rush through the classes to get them over with. (I click through them while on Conference calls and then bluff my way through the Q and A)
Solution: Managers should be tasked with choosing targeted and relevant classes which pertain to their employees, and discard the rest. In other words - teach me what I need to know to be compliant with MY work and I will take it seriously. Flood me with extraneous bs and I will ignore it all. (Some classes are, obviously, for all employees such as diversity, ethics, protecting sensitive client information etc.)
Proof: We have been force-fed the same ridiculous classes for years - all through every regulatory scandal which put Wells Fargo under the Federal Asset Cap for nearly 6 years now.
Truth: Ethics start at the top. Our executives are who need the coaching to be strong ethical leaders. Without a strong culture of ethics, even the best compliance and ethics program is just window dressing. Ethical leaders can inspire employees to perform at their best. (Staff won’t feel as if they’re helping a corrupt C-Suite earn even more money; instead, they’ll see themselves as vital parts of the business’s operations and culture.)