Finding comfort, health and happiness in the compliance & risk professions.
CCI 2025 MENTAL HEALTH SURVEY
Half of Compliance Officers Have Anxiety; Their Org Chart Might Be the Culprit
Between whiplash-inducing policy shifts in Trump’s second term and ever-present personal liability concerns, compliance officers already face unprecedented pressure. Editorial director Jennifer L. Gaskin examines CCI’s striking new survey findings that reveal an equally triggering stressor hiding in plain sight: organizational reporting structures that can cripple program effectiveness.
GETTING OVER SELF-DOUBT
Brittney McDonough
Overcoming Impostor Syndrome in Compliance Careers
The pressure to be the final authority on complex ethical and regulatory matters can intensify feelings of self-doubt among compliance leaders.
AFTER THE FLOOD
Jennifer L. Gaskin
How Recognizing I Had Burnout Saved My Life
The day her town flooded, Jennifer Gaskin, CCI’s editorial director, went to work anyway. Years later, that choice became a powerful lens for understanding burnout in high-pressure careers like compliance.
HOW TO AVOID MICROMANAGEMENT
Lisa Beth Lentini Walker
The Hidden Mental Health Cost of Ethics & Compliance Investigations
Workplace probes into reported ethics and compliance lapses can (and do) spill over the borders of the investigation, often leading to anxiety and stress for everyone involved.
LEADERSHIP & CAREER
WELL-BEING
First, Do No Harm: The Hidden Mental Health Cost of Ethics & Compliance Investigations
Cultivate well-being throughout an investigation process
Giving Thanks in a Thankless Profession
How to find joy and purpose in compliance work through the practice of appreciation
Hardest Pill to Swallow: Rest?
Rest is critical for sharpening decision-making skills
Breaking Free: A Compliance Professional’s Guide to Letting Go
An effective compliance program doesn’t need micromanagement
Empathy Is More Than a Buzzword
Understanding other perspectives benefits everyone’s well-being
How to Recognize & Avoid Well-Being Washing
When claims don’t align with company culture, that can be a warning sign
The Art of Maintaining During Strategic Pauses: Sustaining Yourself, Your Teams & Compliance Programs for Success
Strategic pause can help prevent burnout
Is a Tired Mind an Unethical Mind?
Taking breaks is essential to building a culture of compliance
Well-Being Is About Ethics, Too
Expecting compliance with regulations is unreasonable for a worker in a mental health crisis
Despite Its Status as a Buzzword, Community Still Counts
Commiserate, seek advice, gain experience or share a story
Family Caregivers Account for About 1 in 5 Workers; Supporting Them Means Doing More Than Handling FMLA Requests
An estimated 20% of the U.S. workforce are family caregivers outside of work, meaning they provide assistance for a parent or other adult family member. As the Baby Boomer generation continues to age (and with Generation X hot on their heels), the ranks of family caregivers in the American workplace will only continue to rise....
Illuminating Workspaces: The Impact of Office Lighting on Employee Well-Being
Improper lighting can negatively affect physical and mental health
5 Ways to Promote Well-Being When You’ve Got No Budget for It
Ensuring team takes much-needed breaks can improve health for all
Treating Stakeholders as the Humans They Are
3 major takeaways from ‘Ethics & Compliance for Humans’
Coping With ‘No’: From Rejection to Redirection
When you’re feeling wounded, resist the temptation to cut off your emotions
How Autonomy Can Improve Workplace Well-Being
Letting employees take control of their own careers can make them happier, more engaged and more productive. Just be sure to build a culture of trust before you hand them the keys. “I do it myself.” This is a phrase that parents everywhere hear uttered by 2-year-olds as they start asserting independence. Every toddler knows...
Psychological Safety: An Essential Workplace Guide
A record 50 million U.S. workers quit their jobs in 2022, and the Great Resignation has prompted organizations to reassess their approach to the employee experience. As FDM Group’s Sheila Flavell explains, a research-backed practice known as psychological safety may help leaders boost retention and overall team effectiveness. Employees should feel valued by their organization...
Managing Unwanted Change Can Make Us More Resilient in the Long Run
Life is full of curveballs. We’ve surely all had the experience of heading down what you believe is a predictable and logical set of next steps only to find that the path you thought you were taking is somehow unavailable. Change is unavoidable, but we can get better at handling it. Headlines recently have been...
What We Can Learn From Hawaiian Concept of Mālama
At the heart of any functioning culture of compliance is the concept of protecting our colleagues and the organizations we work for. This spirit is on display in abundance throughout the Hawaiian islands thanks to the concept of mālama. Recently, I took a trip to Hawaii to rejuvenate and refresh after a long haul project...
Building a Workplace Well-Being Strategy? Start With Appreciation & Gratitude.
The Covid pandemic has given us all a lesson in how our physical and emotional well-being can be affected by workplace stress, and employers are increasingly building workplace well-being strategies. Author and consultant Anna Eliatamby shares her recommendations for a humanity-centered strategy discussion. Well-being strategies have become a popular organizational intervention because of Covid and...
Harnessing the Power of the Pause
In our hyper-connected world, it’s easy to push our human need for peace to the back-burner. But a well-being practice isn’t just about active mindfulness; it’s also about embracing stillness. It seems like 2023 began with a burst of energy. There are taxes to be filed, programs to be assessed, momentum and lift achieved. In...
A Lesson in Kindness and Appreciation From Air New Zealand
For her latest Living Your Best Compliance Life column, Mary Shirley talks about how making expressions of gratitude part of a regular practice can encourage colleagues to live up to their full, ethical potential. Air New Zealand is my home country's national airline. It is known for creative and entertaining safety videos, as well as...
Tiny Steps Can Have a Big Impact
We know change doesn’t come easy, which is why making sweeping declarations doesn’t usually work. But where big changes often prove too challenging, bite-sized ones can have a big impact. Last column we spoke about setting themes for the year ahead rather than resolutions. While it is important to have a general guide to what...
New Beginnings & New Understandings
As the calendar rolls into February, the percentage of us who have kept our New Year’s resolutions is likely pretty small. CCI’s Well-Being Editor Lisa Beth Lentini Walker explores a better way of setting resolutions — or better yet, setting intentions. Each year, people focus on setting new year’s resolutions and without fail, the vast...
The Best Gifts Are Often Free
One of the challenges for the mindfully ethical leader is finding ways to connect during the holiday season without violating gifts and entertainment limits or making the other person uncomfortable. How can you give this season without running afoul of ethics policies? Both at work and at home, we often give gifts to establish or...
High-Fiving in the Virtual Office: Gratitude Can Go Viral via Email
Even when everything’s going well, work stress can often seep into office communications in negative ways. As more and more business is done remotely, it’s time to evaluate the gratitude level in your email habits. If you’ve been feeling extra-stressed lately, you’re not alone. According to a 2022 poll by the American Psychological Association (APA),...
How to De-Stress Budgeting for Your Compliance Program
Strong compliance programs don’t just happen. They require planning — and budgeting. Being thoughtful and proactive will help drive appropriate budgeting that supports and promotes program effectiveness, while reducing your stress both now and throughout the next fiscal year. ’Tis the season of budget management. Every year, around the time fall beverages show up at...
Why ‘Quiet Quitting’ Could Harm Ethics & Compliance Functions
Few compliance programs have tasks that are spelled out in the job descriptions of every person in an organization, and even the best of programs require buy-in from everyone from the C-suite to the housekeeping staff. But as so-called “quiet quitting” continues to change the workforce, compliance and ethics managers may need to take extra...
Fighting the Employee Anxiety Pandemic Requires More Than Quick Fixes
Long before anybody had heard of Covid-19, a workplace crisis was brewing: People were becoming overworked and overstressed. The pandemic has worsened the situation, but that doesn’t mean employers can’t make things better. Ethics and compliance consultant Lisa Schor Babin explores the prevalence of anxiety in the workforce and what concrete steps firms can take...
How to Make Friends With Your Inner Voice
Most of us have an inner voice running through our heads constantly, spewing upwards of 4,000 words per minute. Because they’re with us all the time, these inescapable voices can systematically undermine our mental health, even causing us to make foolish career decisions. Have you ever heard yourself talk in your head? If you have,...