Understanding the Financial Conduct Authority’s focus
We’ve all been living through a wild year without equal and now, as the tide hopefully turns on Covid-19, we find ourselves moving forward with renewed impetus, despite the pandemic and the effects of Brexit remaining a big part of the picture. With those factors and others in mind, this article’s going to think about the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and three clear areas of regulatory focus that it’s currently concentrating on:
- Governance, culture and individual accountability
- Conduct and enforcement
- Operational and financial resilience
Now, we anticipate that all of these matters will generate increased FCA scrutiny – and enforcement action – in the months ahead, so they’re certainly subjects worth discussing. To help me do so, I’m delighted to be able to draw upon the insights and expertise of Philippa Grocott, Managing Partner at the financial services training and consultancy firm FSTP.
Making people central to their success
“To me, the model of success is not linear. Success is completing the full circle of yourself.”
There’s going to be something of a circular, cyclical theme to this reflection on learning, improvement and the importance of people being at the centre of things. As the quote above suggests, circles and success are no strangers to each other and we’ve been thinking within this area lately, in particular regarding people-centric product design and a cycle for the creation, delivery and review of effective learning experiences. It all stems from a belief that it’s really important to ‘put people into products’ – to ensure that the initiatives and developments we undertake are really focused on and effective for, those intended to benefit from them.
A wider view of employee wellbeing
Let’s start with a few statistics. The charity Versus Arthritis recently conducted a survey of people working remotely and found that 81% of respondents were experiencing some back, neck or shoulder pain, while 48% were less physically active than they were before lockdown. Another study, by the Health Foundation, discovered that more than two-thirds of adults in the UK feel somewhat or very worried about the effects that Covid-19 is having on their lives. A further survey undertaken by the RSA reported that from over 1,100 workers’ responses, four in 10 had worked within 10 days of a positive Covid-19 test result, while over 10% said they’d been ordered on-site when they could have worked easily and safely from home.
I’ve brought these statistics together because they touch on the physical, mental, occupational and social pressures being exerted on people during this extraordinary chapter – and suggest the need to look at employee wellbeing holistically. The pandemic’s effects have reached into all areas of our lives, not least our work situations. There’s surely never been a period of such flux in modern times, featuring so many changes to the fabric of the work environment including the shift to remote working, the need for altered workplaces when that’s not possible, as well as the furlough scheme. So there are naturally many tests and tasks to overcome on the road ahead.
HR modernisation: will you throw your hat in the ring?
For today’s HR professionals, it can feel like work involves wearing a lot of hats. Need to navigate a route towards improved company performance? Pop on a pilot’s cap. Busy with health and safety concerns? Try this hard hat on. Involved in difficult staff situations, or legal disputes? Time for the police helmet. Got training and coaching programmes to set up? Look out your mortarboard. Mindful that a hundred more tasks are waiting in your in-tray? Maybe a magician’s hat is what you really need, so you can pull a few more rabbits from it.
Luckily, achieving greater efficiency with a HR or payroll solution is not just for larger organisations, as moving from manual processes to software simplicity works for SMEs too. Indeed, every opportunity to automate repetitive or time-consuming tasks will free up your team to focus on responsibilities that have a real impact on your business. So, let’s look at some of the ways you can leverage software to make your work life easier, using the key areas below.
Recruitment > Onboarding > Compliance > Self-service and Mobile > Reporting > Integrations
Once upon a crime…
Here’s a quick story. My eldest son is a pretty typical 17-year-old. He has his own bank account, with a card, and loves finding great deals online, mostly via the family’s tablet. Recently, an advert for a well-known retailer grabbed his attention. It was selling a favoured brand of trainers at an incredible price. He clicked on the link, was taken to a site he recognised, registered the usual information – including bank details – and placed an order. The trainers should have arrived within two days, but a week later nothing had appeared. It was around then that I noticed a ‘Thank You’ pop-up related to the order, which also promised more great deals on the website. It looked suspicious so I closed it down, asked my son about it and heard about the deal. I then checked the website of the retailer directly, only to find there was no such offer. We contacted the bank, cancelled the card, performed an antivirus scan on the device and changed the passwords for all its apps and accounts. Suffice to say, the trainers never arrived. We’d been defrauded.
The reason for recounting this tale is a belief that personal stories can play a really valuable role within training, giving people the confidence to talk about and share experiences with colleagues and managers – and that matters, because now more than ever employees have a vital role to play in businesses’ resilience against the ever-growing threat of cyber-attacks and data breaches.
Against a backdrop of major global upheaval and unprecedented change in the workplace, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the type of aptitudes and abilities people are seeking out is changing. In tandem with this, there’s an apparent move away from more task-orientated skills, such as time management, towards more people-orientated skills instead. Indeed, recent research by LinkedIn helped to identify the top five soft skills predicted to be particularly in demand during 2021.So, a quick quiz: how many of these do you think you can guess (we’ll confirm them for you further below)?
This development hints at just how important it is to look ahead and ensure the health and long-term success of your business: in essence, to future-proof your workforce. Invariably, it comes back to the people and making sure that you’re supporting individuals, nurturing talent and navigating as a team through the usual terrain and uncertainty alike. Closing any skills gaps that your employees might have, to enable the business to grow and prosper, is a crucial part of achieving those aims.
UK Finance, the trade body for the banking and finance industry in the UK, warned last year about the top 10 cyber fraud scams used during the Covid-19 crisis to trick people and organisations out of hard-won cash and company revenues. Many of these scams still apply in the current climate. They are as follows:
Following the Government’s decision to postpone IR35 rule changes earlier this year, time is running out for businesses that haven’t fully prepared for the changes ahead of the new deadline on 6 April 2021.
SCORM is a set of technical prerequisites for E-Learning software products. SCORM informs computer programmers on how to write their code so that it can interact with other e-learning software. It is the industry standard for e-learning interconnectivity. SCORM controls how online learning subject matter and Learning Management Systems (LMS) communicate with each other. SCORM does not speak to instructional design; it is purely a technical standard.
Inquests into the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 have been concluded by the Jury that the 96 football fans who were fatally injured were killed unlawfully.
Families of victims were all seen hugging and punching the air in celebration and relief at the news of the recent inquest. It was an emotional moment for many.
For 27 years, the burden of blame for the incidents that unfolded at the FA Cup semi-final was lifted.
Families and campaigners now had proof as to why the disaster happened and how corners were cut which, if addressed, could have prevented the death of 96 men, women, and children.
