Employee compliance in a Covid-19 world: what has changed?

Abstract

If you work in a FinServ firm and believe that little if anything has materially changed in relation to your firm’s approach to employee compliance over 2020 and now 2021, then you should read this paper.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) certainly believes you should have seen big changes and any slack the regulator may have cut you in the early days of Covid-19 has certainly evaporated months ago.

The fact is that in most organisations employee controls and governance has materially reduced. Very few I suspect can substantiate that they have maintained the same level of vigilance and control now the workforce is WFH, let alone increased it as suggested here by the FCA. This paper explores what firms can do to reasonably protect themselves and meet the standards required of them, and poses the potentially contentious and unpopular question: “In reality, is it possible to allow all employees, regardless of their role, to WFH and maintain the required levels of governance?”