Sadly, corruption is everywhere in the business world today. There is a lot of legislation around the world, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act. For any companies that could fall foul of these laws, it’s important to understand all the requirements and to have practices in place to ensure that corruption can be identified and avoided. The damage caused by corruption, particularly in emerging markets, causes untold harm. If an individual or company is involved in corruption it’s no laughing matter – authorities and governments take an extremely serious approach. The consequences can lead to very high fines and even imprisonment.
The first thing a company will need to do is to understand what constitutes corruption, how it can occur and what the consequences might be. It’s also important to understand what to do when confronted with corruption. For all these aspects, it’s clear that anti-bribery training would be a good investment.
What anti-bribery training involves
For a start, anti-bribery training will give peace of mind to company boards that all employees know what to look out for and will be protecting the reputation of the business. It’s also a good thing for employees to understand that they can be prosecuted in their individual capacity and that criminal charges can be brought against them, even if they weren’t entirely sure that they were accepting a bribe. For any business involved in international business and in financial trading, all staff should be aware of how their business practices need to link in with the company’s compliance strategy.
When certain employees are first confronted with a bribe it can be a daunting experience. People that are most vulnerable to bribes are those in procurement or who are evaluating tenders. Those who are offering the bribes can be groups that are well versed in intimidation, and are happy use strong-arm tactics if their bribe is refused. It’s for this reason that staff need the support of their companies and should know where to go for confidential assistance.
Conducting this training
Anti-bribery training can be done in groups as face-to-face training, or can be conducted through e-learning, which could be interactive. The advantage of e-learning is that is can be given to new staff when they join, rather than waiting until there are sufficient numbers to join a group. Another aspect that some companies consider is that all potential suppliers should also be aware of the company’s anti-bribery policy. It sometimes happens that an employee inside a company offers business to a supplier at an inflated rate, but wants the increased cost to be split with them as a reward for awarding the business. Should potential suppliers be aware of a company’s stand on bribery, they would be able to assist in uncovering pockets of corruption within a business.
