How to make your Compliance and Ethics Week more engaging
Compliance and Ethics Week is an annual week of compliance activities first created by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.
The week presents an opportunity for organizations to not only highlight the importance of compliance and ethics, but also bring people together while having some fun.
But to maximize the effectiveness of this event — and ensure all employees are onboard with your compliance and ethics policies — all participants must be actively engaged.
Here, we'll explore a few strategies you can use to spice up your Compliance and Ethics Week with engaging and entertaining activities.
3 ways to make Compliance and Ethics Week more engaging
1. Gifts
Who doesn’t like a fun present? Gifts that people can use long-term can be especially helpful because they remind them of the importance of compliance and ethics all year round. Using the gifts at the office will reinforce this idea.
Some gift ideas include:
Compliance is my bag: Buy a reusable bag with the words “Compliance is my bag,” or “Ethics is my bag” printed on it.
Compliance is cool: Buy a reusable cool bag with the phrase “Compliance is cool” printed on it.
Compliance is sweet: Buy a box or bag of sweets or chocolates with the phrase “Compliance is sweet” printed on it.
Ethics is my cup of tea: Buy a coffee mug with tea bags. Print the coffee mug with “Ethics is my cup of tea” printed on it.
Compliance is my jam: Buy small jars of jam with the words “Compliance is my jam” printed on them.
There are many companies that sell these types of customizable gifts at low prices when ordered in bulk. For example, check out 4imprint.com or Vistaprint.com.
Include your company’s logo on the items to take your gifts to the next level. Better yet, if your company has a compliance-specific logo, print that on the items.
Competitions and games
Everyone loves a little competition — it's as old as humanity itself. Use this powerful instinct to get people involved.
You can do this with:
Compliance competitor online business simulation game
Simulation games are always fun. One example is the Compliance Competitor online game.
In this game, teams compete through complex, multi-compliance and ethics-laden scenarios to get the highest revenue, best stock price and lowest fines. None of the answers are completely right, which can lead to intense but engaging discussions. Best of all, it’s completely customizable.
Diligent hosted a webinar about Compliance and Ethics Week, during which Lisa Hall of Market Axess described the use of Compliance Competitor in detail. Watch the replay here.
Scandal quiz
Who doesn’t love a good scandal?
One way to get folks involved is to create a scandal quiz to test people’s knowledge of the compliance and fraud-related scandals in the news. From Bernie Madoff to outrageous ChatGPT violations, you can keep the news junkies entertained and allow them to flaunt their knowledge.
You can also include questions relating to your company. For instance, “How many whistleblower complaints did we get in the past 12 months?” You can run the quiz online via survey tools and give a prize for the highest score.
The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics is a great starting place. They have sample questions which you can access here.
Best tagline/meme overlay
To get people thinking about compliance and ethics messaging, hold a competition for best tagline, or put out a series of pictures and see who can come up with the best captions.
(Make sure these are judged privately, as some employees may come up with not-so-safe-for-work answers!)
Publish the most clever responses on your intranet site or in a company-wide email. Your colleagues' creativity may surprise you, and employees will enjoy seeing their co-workers' senses of humor.
Digital scavenger hunt
Digital scavenger hunts are a hot new trend for Compliance and Ethics Week. Create a scavenger hunt with questions like, “Where can the Code of Conduct be found?” “What is the gift limit for a gift to a government official?” or “In what month does the Ethics and Compliance survey come out?”
Give people a way to submit their answers to win recognition or prizes.
Diligent’s webinar about creating a terrific Ethics and Compliance Week featured Allison Riter of nVent, as she discussed how their company conducted a digital survey. Watch the replay of the webinar here.
Prizes
People love prizes! From Amazon or Starbucks gift cards to company swag, a tangible present is always welcome.
If you are able to provide prizes for any of the activities above, fantastic. If you can’t offer a prize for everyone that completes or wins the activity, you can choose winners using a points system or raffle tickets. If you go this route and want to create even more engagement, record the moment when you pick the winners and post the video to your internal social media site.
Make compliance fun
Don't miss out on the great opportunity that Compliance and Ethics Week offers to reinforce your company's compliance policies while bringing your teams together.
Use the strategies outlined here to ensure everyone has a good time and feels empowered to practice compliance strategies all year long.
Looking to incorporate the Diligent Compliance and Ethics Training Library into your strategy for Compliance and Ethics Week? Learn more about our library's engaging offerings.
