Workplace compliance training can cover a lot of ground.
Wage and hour. Employee leave. Workplace accommodations. Hiring and interviewing. Employee complaints. Discrimination. Equal pay. Workplace safety.
But does every employee need every course?
Usually, the better question is not simply, “What compliance training should we offer?” It is: what does this employee need to understand based on their role, responsibilities, and workplace?
An employee making hiring decisions may need different knowledge than someone who does not supervise anyone. A manager responsible for scheduling employees may encounter issues that never reach an individual contributor. HR professionals may need a broader understanding across several areas.
Building a stronger compliance training program starts by matching training to the decisions employees and supervisors actually make.
Start With the Compliance Issues Your Workforce Encounters
It can be tempting to start with a giant list of workplace compliance topics and assign everything to everyone.
That does not necessarily create a better training program.
Instead, employers can begin by identifying where employees and managers encounter compliance-related responsibilities in their everyday work.
That might include:
- Hiring and interviewing
- Employee pay and working time
- Leave requests
- Workplace accommodations
- Employee complaints
- Discrimination and workplace conduct
- Documentation
- Equal pay considerations
- Workplace safety
- Privacy and other role-specific responsibilities
Different organizations will arrive at different lists.
A professional services firm may have different priorities than a manufacturing company. A supervisor responsible for managing employees may need training that would provide little value to an employee without management responsibilities.
The goal should be to create relevant compliance awareness rather than simply maximize the number of courses assigned.
Employers can explore available workplace compliance training through the Compliance Training collection, which includes a growing selection of self-paced courses covering a range of workplace topics for employees and supervisors.
Give Supervisors Additional Compliance Training
Supervisors occupy a particularly important position in workplace compliance.
They make everyday decisions involving employees and are often the first people to encounter workplace questions.
An employee may tell a supervisor about a medical issue.
A manager may be responsible for approving work hours.
An employee may raise a workplace complaint.
A supervisor may participate in interviewing candidates or documenting a performance issue.
Managers do not need to become HR professionals, but training can help them recognize when a situation may require additional attention and when they should involve Human Resources.
That is a different objective from expecting supervisors to memorize every workplace requirement.
Effective supervisor compliance training helps managers spot issues and respond appropriately.
The Compliance Training collection includes courses specifically relevant to managers and supervisors, including wage and hour, workplace complaints, hiring, accommodations, FMLA, EEOC considerations, discrimination, equal pay, and other employment topics.
Include Wage and Hour Awareness Where It Matters
Managers frequently make decisions that affect employee working time and pay.
They may approve schedules, respond to overtime needs, manage breaks, review employee time, or make decisions about work performed outside an employee's normal schedule.
That makes wage and hour awareness an important training consideration for many supervisors.
Rather than expecting managers to become experts, training can help them recognize situations that may require closer attention or HR involvement.
The current compliance library includes options such as Clocked In: FLSA Basics, California Wage & Hour for Supervisors, and Federal Wage & Hour for Supervisors.
Employers can review these and other courses through the workplace compliance training page.
Prepare Managers to Recognize Leave and Accommodation Issues
Employees do not always approach a supervisor using formal HR terminology.
They may simply explain that they need time away from work, are dealing with a medical issue, have a pregnancy-related need, or require a change in how they perform their job.
A supervisor may therefore encounter an issue before HR ever hears about it.
Training can help managers recognize when an employee's statement or request may need to be elevated for additional review rather than handled casually or dismissed.
Relevant training topics may include employee leave, medical accommodations, pregnancy-related needs, disability accommodations, and religious needs.
Courses such as When Life Happens: FMLA Basics, Making Work Work: ADA Basics, and Workplace Accommodations: Medical, Pregnancy, and Religious Needs give employers options for incorporating these subjects into supervisor development.
The objective is practical awareness: helping supervisors recognize situations where the appropriate next step may be involving HR.
Include Hiring and Interview Training for Employees Who Recruit
Hiring creates another point where employees and managers make decisions on behalf of the organization.
Someone participating in recruitment may write job descriptions, review applicants, conduct interviews, narrow the candidate pool, or participate in the final selection.
Those responsibilities may justify targeted training.
Rather than assigning hiring courses throughout the entire organization, employers can provide them to the people actually involved in recruiting.
The Compliance Training collection includes Conducting a Lawful Interview and Lawful Hiring, giving organizations focused options for employees and managers involved in the hiring process.
This is a good example of why role-based compliance training can be more useful than assigning the same curriculum to everyone.
Help Supervisors Respond to Workplace Complaints
Managers are often the first people employees approach when something feels wrong at work.
The employee may describe a conflict, inappropriate behavior, a concern about treatment, or another workplace issue without formally describing it as a “complaint.”
Supervisors need enough awareness to recognize when the issue should not simply remain an informal conversation.
Training can help managers think through how to listen, respond professionally, document appropriately when required by organizational procedures, and involve the right internal resources.
Courses such as Handling Complaints, Preventing Workplace Discrimination, Leading Fairly: EEOC Essentials, and Respect at Work: Title VII Essentials can form part of a broader supervisor compliance curriculum.
This training can also complement a separate harassment prevention training program, since workplace complaints and employee conduct frequently intersect with broader management responsibilities.
Don't Treat Compliance Training as a One-Time Event
Workplace compliance is too broad to fit neatly into one annual training session.
An organization may have some courses that employees complete when they are hired, others that are assigned periodically, and additional training triggered when an employee takes on new responsibilities.
For example:
A new employee might receive foundational workplace training.
Someone joining the recruiting team might receive hiring and interviewing training.
A newly promoted supervisor might receive courses covering complaints, wage and hour, leave, accommodations, documentation, and discrimination.
An employee taking on specialized responsibilities may receive training relevant to that role.
This approach makes compliance training part of the employee lifecycle instead of a single event everyone completes at the same time.
Build Training Around Roles, Not Just Topics
One of the easiest ways to organize a compliance training program is to think about groups of employees.
All Employees
Identify foundational topics relevant across the workforce.
Supervisors and Managers
Add training related to the decisions managers make and the employee concerns they may encounter.
Hiring Managers
Provide focused education around recruiting, interviewing, and candidate selection.
Employees With Specialized Responsibilities
Assign training based on their work, department, location, or responsibilities.
Emerging Leaders
Begin introducing relevant compliance awareness before they assume full supervisory responsibility.
This creates a training structure that can grow with the employee.
It also makes it easier to answer the question at the center of the program:
Why is this person taking this course?
If there is no clear answer, the training may not belong in that employee's learning path.
Give Employees Access to the Right Amount of Training
A role-based strategy works best when the purchasing model supports it. An organization may have some employees who need only one compliance course and supervisors who need several.
Through the flexible eLearning plans, employers can choose the amount of course access appropriate for each learner:
1 Course – $24.95 per learner
Useful for a focused compliance requirement, individual training need, or refresher course.
5 Courses – $32.95 per learner
Can support a focused collection of HR and compliance essentials or supervisor training.
10 Courses – $39.95 per learner
Provides broader access for employees or managers with multiple training needs.
Full Library – $44.95 per learner
Provides access to 100+ courses spanning compliance, professional development, harassment prevention, workplace safety, privacy, security awareness, ethics, and other workplace topics.
Standard plans include one year of LMS access, personalized setup, completion tracking, reporting, and certificates.
Different employees can therefore receive different training based on what they actually need.
Ready to Build Your Workplace Compliance Training Program?
Start by identifying the workplace decisions employees and supervisors make. Then select training that helps them better understand those responsibilities.
Employers can browse all our compliance training courses through the Compliance Training collection.
Available topics include:
- Wage and hour
- FLSA
- FMLA
- ADA accommodations
- Workplace accommodations
- Hiring and interviewing
- Workplace complaints
- EEOC considerations
- Discrimination
- Equal pay
- Inclusion
- Workplace safety fundamentals
- AI basics
- Privacy-related topics
- Other workplace compliance subjects
Organizations that need one focused course can purchase individual access, while employers building broader learning programs can compare online workplace training plans.
Want to see the learning experience first? Request a training demo.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is workplace compliance training?
Workplace compliance training helps employees and supervisors build awareness around workplace requirements and responsibilities relevant to their roles. Topics can include wage and hour, leave, accommodations, hiring, employee complaints, discrimination, equal pay, workplace safety, and other employment-related subjects.
What compliance training should employees receive?
Training needs vary by organization, role, responsibilities, and workplace. Some topics may apply broadly, while others are more relevant to supervisors, hiring managers, or employees with specialized responsibilities.
Why do supervisors need compliance training?
Supervisors regularly make decisions involving employees and may be the first people to receive workplace questions or concerns. Training can help managers recognize potential issues and understand when HR or another internal resource should become involved.
Should every employee receive the same compliance training?
Not necessarily. Role-based training can allow organizations to provide broader compliance education to managers and specialized training to employees whose responsibilities make particular topics relevant.
Can compliance training be completed online?
Yes. Self-paced online training allows employees to complete assigned courses while employers use an LMS to monitor completion and maintain training records.
Can I purchase only one compliance course?
Yes. The 1 Course eLearning plan provides access to one selected course per learner. Employers can also choose five-course, ten-course, or full-library plans.
Can compliance courses be used in our existing LMS?
Organizations with an existing learning management system can ask about SCORM-compatible delivery options.
Build Compliance Training Around the Decisions Employees Make
The most effective compliance training program is not necessarily the one with the most courses.
It is the one that gives employees and supervisors relevant information at the points where their responsibilities require it.
For some employees, that may mean one focused course.
For supervisors, it may mean a broader learning path covering pay practices, leave, accommodations, complaints, hiring, discrimination, and other everyday management issues.
The Compliance Training collection gives employers self-paced workplace compliance courses to choose from, while flexible employee training plans make it possible to match the amount of training to each learner.
Explore the Compliance Training collection, compare eLearning plans, or request a training demo.
Give employees the training that fits the decisions they actually make.