Job Description
Compliance Officer
Reporting to : Director of Compliance & ESG
Office Location: London
Role Objectives
Reporting to the Director or Compliance and ESG, you will be responsible for implementing and overseeing the Group corporate ethics and integrity programme in UK&I ensuring compliance with external regulatory and legal requirements and standards, and internal policies and procedures.
You will be a key member of the Global Compliance & ESG function. As a new function, you will be joining at an exciting time and will have the opportunity to help shape the vision, strategy and roadmap of the team, supporting the global business as it enhances its culture of acting with integrity.
Key Results / Areas
In this role, you will have a dotted reporting line to the General Counsel UK&I and will work closely with the UK&I SLT and Group and UK&I supporting functions to operationalise compliance across all business activities. You will support the development, implementation and monitoring of policies, procedures and controls applicable to the business to ensure compliance with its legal and regulatory obligations. Your responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:
Strategy, governance, and frameworks
* Support the Director of Compliance and ESG to develop the global compliance programme vision, strategy, and objectives, ensuring alignment with Hays’ broader business strategy and transformation programmes.
* Design and maintenance of the UK&I programme governance structure / terms of reference, to ensure accountability, transparency, and oversight of the UK&I corporate compliance programme.
* Establish and maintain the UK&I programme framework, ensuring alignment with mandatory requirements, industry standards and best practices.
* Collaborate with, influence and report to the UK&I SLT, to ensure compliance and integrity is embedded in decision-making across the division.
* Define KPIs (using both qualitative and quantitative data sets) and reporting mechanisms, to measure the effectiveness of the UK&I compliance programme and ensure appropriate oversight.
Monitoring / horizon scanning
* Track and interpret changes in laws, regulations, and industry standards.
* Assess the impact of legal and regulatory developments on Hays.
* Define and implement a prevention plan to ensure compliance.
* Pursue continuing education to maintain awareness and understanding of relevant laws, rules and regulations and their effect on the scope and practice of the programme.
Risk assessment
* Design compliance risk assessments in line with industry standards / best practice / legal requirements.
* Attaining in-depth knowledge and understanding of business processes and interrogating information to enable effective risk assessment and identify inherent compliance risks and vulnerabilities. Define KRIs.
* Assess the current internal control environment to mitigate inherent compliance risks and determine residual risk scores.
* Develop mitigation strategies for each risk, in line with Hays’ risk appetite and target risk score.
* Monitor the effectiveness of internal controls to mitigate compliance risks. Regularly update risk assessments, to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
* Assisting the risk team with the development of enterprise level risk, controls and audit systems.
Policy development and implementation
* Design policies, procedures, and controls to mitigate compliance risks and vulnerabilities.
* Support with the design, implementation and communication of the Group Code of Ethics and Conduct, including the Group Compliance & ESG internal and external webpages.
* Operationalise compliance policies, procedures, and controls, to ensure that compliance is consistently embedded into decision-making across the UK&I region.
* Ensure that policies and procedures are engaging, comprehensive, readily accessible and available on the UK&I intranet and in appropriate local languages.
* Conduct regular review / monitoring of policies, procedures, and controls, to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
* Monitor compliance with policies and procedures, (including, without limitation):
* conducting regular review and reporting on key programme KPI’s, including conflicts of interest declarations, gifts and entertainment declarations, donations and sponsorships, third party risk assessments, trade associations / industry bodies memberships and speak ups; obtaining policy and Code attestations.
Third-Party Risk
* Understanding the Group’s business operations and the role that third parties play in those operations.
* Implementing UK third-party due diligence and risk assessment programme including annual reviews and certification.
* Monitoring external marketplace risk factors that could influence the risk assessment (and its scorings).
* Interacting with the parts of the business that conduct procurement activity, to ensure adequate due diligence procedures are in place.
* Providing guidance and support to implement key controls for existing and new business partners.
Training and awareness
* Support group design of training on the Code of Ethics and Conduct, and associated policies, procedures, and controls. Support the design of enhanced training for senior leaders, managers and most exposed populations.
* Deliver the designed training, to ensure that all colleagues have the capability required to perform their roles in accordance with the law and our policies.
* Promote an open, safe culture, where acting with integrity / doing the right thing is fully embedded into all decision-making. Support and celebrate those who raise concerns, as an effective way to identify and mitigate risks, and to support our business to learn, grow and improve.
* Provide direction, support and guidance to the Integrity Champions – UK&I
* Monitor and record training completion rates and communication initiatives.
Speak up programme (raising concerns at work)
* Oversee the implementation and management of the Hays speak up programme for UK&I, including the Raising Concerns at Work policy, internal investigation procedure and associated training for colleagues (including training for those who are involved in supporting internal investigations).
* Manage Hays’ channels for raising concerns in UK&I ,Promote an open and safe speak up culture at Hays.
* Oversee internal investigations into suspected breaches of Hays’ Code of Ethics and Conduct and associated policies in UK&I
* Recommend and oversee corrective actions.
Monitor and review
* Work with / support the internal controls and internal audit functions to ensure that the policies, procedures, and controls in place to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities are effective.
* Produce regular reports for the Group General Counsel, Director of Compliance and ESG, General Counsel – UK&I and the SLT on the progress of the implementation of the programme, and the effectiveness of the programme (e.g., KPI’s and the results of audits and reviews) for UK&I
* Support with the conduct of both internal and external benchmarking of the compliance programme.
Liaison with regulators
* Act as the primary point of contact for regulatory agencies in UK&I
* Coordinate responses to audits, inspections, and inquiries.
* Maintain records to demonstrate compliance with legal requirements.
Advice and Support
* Act as a channel of communication in UK&I to receive, manage or direct ethics and compliance issues and concerns appropriately for resolution.
* Providing advice and assistance from an ethics and compliance perspective in respect of proposed M&A or joint-venture transactions being considered or entered into by UK&I.
Knowledge, qualifications and experience
Education
* Qualified lawyer preferred.
Work Experience
* 5+ years’ experience within a compliance, legal, audit and/or risk function, with recent experience of designing, operationalising, implementing, and continuous assessment of a corporate ethics and compliance programme.
* Knowledge and understanding of key international compliance legislation including relating to ABC, fraud, tax evasion and other economic crimes, sanctions and trade controls, anti-trust, modern slavery and human rights.
* Experience in developing policy and compliance training.
* Experience conducting workplace investigations.
Skills and Competencies
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
* Well-developed and professional interpersonal skills; ability to interact effectively with people at all organisational levels.
* A growth mindset, good commercial acumen and a pragmatic individual who is confident exercising judgment in a complex business environment.
* Experience of working in a large, complex organisation.
* Ability to work unsupervised, exercise leadership and influence change.
* Strong change and project management skills, including the ability to manage time well, prioritise effectively and handle multiple deadlines.
* Ability to undertake large, long-term projects, develop alternative methods to complete them and implement solutions.
* Ability to use independent judgement and discretion when making majority of decisions.
* Detail-oriented approach needed to recommend and implement strategic improvements on a range of compliance related issues.
* Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with the appropriate discretion.
At Hays, we share a passion for creating a culture of opportunities for our people to flourish and succeed, whatever your background. We know that diversity of perspective and an inclusive approach, which encourages those experiences and views to be heard, is great for business and therefore your career.