CEP Magazine (July 2020)
Compliance professionals are finding it hard to do their job during the pandemic, in part due to the social distancing practices instituted by most organizations. Reliance on remote apps to do audits means certain compliance activities have either halted or been significantly reduced.
Corporate monitorships that require extensive travel, site visits, and on-site inspections have been hit hard, according to a report[1] from The Wall Street Journal: “‘Monitorships that are currently in process in many respects are being slowed down almost to a complete halt,’ said John Hanson, president of the International Association of Independent Corporate Monitors. ‘They can continue in some capacity, but not in a full capacity.’”
The report goes on to explain how virtual meetings can’t truly replicate an in-person experience. “‘I’ve had people sit in the room and they say all the right things,’” added Pam Davis, a partner at law firm Winston & Strawn LLP in San Francisco, “‘and then you see them walk out of the room and you can see the interaction with the compliance people and you can tell they have absolutely no respect for them whatsoever, and everything they said was probably not exactly honest with respect to how they treat their compliance officers.’”
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