Elsie Rodas

30-04-2025

What if compliance became a daily habit in the workplace?

Image by katchanatsarin via Envato Elements

From checklists to culture: Learn five practical strategies for transforming compliance training into a habit that sticks across your workforce

In regulated sectors such as health and social care, education, and public services, compliance training is often viewed as a tick-box exercise, something staff complete once a year to stay inspection-ready. But what if compliance wasn’t just a course to complete, but a mindset to embed across every level of your organisation?

At The Mandatory Training Group, we believe that compliance should be integrated into daily operations, rather than being isolated to annual e-learning modules. Based on our experience across the NHS, private care, public health, and education, we've seen how shifting from event-based training to experience-based learning leads to better outcomes, improved inspection results, greater workforce confidence, and safer, more inclusive environments.

In this article, Elsie Rodas shares five practical strategies to help your organisation embed compliance training into daily practice, making it habitual, relevant, and transformative.

Rethinking compliance training - Beyond the basics

Compliance training is defined as the structured education and ongoing development required to meet legal, regulatory, and organisational standards. In the UK, this includes alignment with:

• Care Quality Commission (CQC) for health and social care.
• Ofsted for education and early years settings.
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for workplace safety.
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy.

Traditional delivery methods, such as annual classroom sessions or e-learning modules, provide a necessary foundation. But it’s not enough to drive behavioural change or ensure consistent, competent practice across teams.

Why compliance needs to be a daily habit

Compliance failures often occur not because staff haven’t been trained, but because the learning wasn’t embedded into day-to-day work. In high-stakes environments, like hospitals, care homes, or schools, training must go beyond awareness - it must become second nature.

Embedding compliance into daily workflows can:

• Improve retention of critical knowledge
• Minimise risks and inspection failures
• Build confidence and situational readiness
• Strengthen team accountability and trust
• Encourage real-time feedback and correction.

In essence, it turns training into action and policy into practice.

Five practical strategies to make compliance part of everyday work

Here are five practical strategies to embed compliance into everyday routines and frontline practice.

1. Use microlearning in daily briefings

Start shift handovers or team huddles with short compliance refreshers. These 2-3 minute learning moments reinforce best practices without disrupting operations.

Example - A care home introduces a “Topic of the Week” during morning briefings, covering subjects like medication safety, infection control, or dignity in care.

2. Leverage on-the-job coaching and peer learning

Transform day-to-day interactions into coaching opportunities. Supervisors and experienced staff should provide real-time feedback and foster safe spaces for questions and improvement.

Example - During a routine home care visit, a team leader coaches a new carer on PPE application, reinforcing infection control through practical training.

3. Align visual aids with training goals

Job aids, such as posters, lanyards, and quick-reference guides, can serve as visual reinforcements for compliance protocols taught during training.

Example - A school displays safeguarding flowcharts in common areas to align with the latest Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance.

4. Integrate compliance into appraisals and supervision

Performance and compliance should go hand-in-hand. Build regulatory competencies into routine supervisions, appraisals, and probation reviews.

Example - An NHS Trust includes hand hygiene observation scores in nurse appraisals, linking training with patient safety outcomes.

5. Use digital tools to track and reinforce learning

Leverage Learning Management Systems (LMS) like ComplyPlus™ LMS to automate compliance alerts, track completions, and provide live dashboards for line managers.

Example - A multi-site early years provider uses ComplyPlus™ to monitor Prevent Duty training, send automated refresher reminders, and produce Ofsted-ready reports.

Leadership insight - Make compliance everyone’s job

The most successful organisations treat compliance not as an HR function, but as a leadership responsibility. Managers, directors, and team leads must model compliant behaviour, actively support training initiatives, and celebrate staff engagement with learning.

When leaders treat compliance as a shared value, not just a statutory obligation, teams are more likely to take ownership of it in their daily roles.

From one-off training to everyday competency

When you embed compliance into your organisation’s DNA, you create far more than a checklist culture. You enable teams to:

• Deliver safer care and better education
• Respond confidently to regulatory inspections
• Reduce incidents and performance gaps
• Build environments where people thrive, not just comply.

Let’s stop asking: “Have they completed the training?”

Start asking: “Are they applying it, safely, confidently, and consistently?”

Partner with MTG to build a compliance-driven culture

At The Mandatory Training Group, we help organisations move from compliance checking to competency building.

Through our industry-specific Train the Trainer programmes, hands-on support, and our powerful ComplyPlus™ LMS, we enable clients to:

• Embed compliance into daily practice.
• Align training with CQC, Ofsted, HSE, and GDPR standards.
• Track training performance and improve accountability.
• Scale training across teams, locations, and departments.

Whether you're in healthcare, education, or another regulated sector, we’ll help you build a sustainable internal training system that not only meets inspection standards but exceeds them.