Hi,
We’re back in the swing of things after a flurry of bank holidays, and this week we’ll be continuing with our series on what to consider when undertaking a stakeholder analysis.
If you missed last week’s e-mail – where we looked at the issue of Costs and Financial Performance – or if you want a refresher, you can catch up with it here.
For a comprehensive back catalogue of all the e-mails we’ve sent since we started this newsletter at the beginning of this year, head over to the Vault.
This week, we’ll be considering the issue of Legal and Statutory Compliance. We’ve paraphrased Darth Vader in the subject of this e-mail, and it’s highly likely that stakeholders will find a lack of compliance disturbing. Read on to find out why.
Legal and Statutory Compliance
There is a whole range of legislation that an organisation must comply with but you can read every day of companies that fail to comply.
Non-compliance with legislation can, of course, lead to prosecution with fines and even imprisonment a real possibility. Large fines inevitably affect the profitability of an organisation and, as described above, the return for stakeholders but the less tangible effects non-compliance may have on relationships with stakeholders can cause the most problems for an organisation.
Remember the definition of stakeholders – anyone who has a vested interest in an organisation. How would failure to comply with Health and Safety legislation affect different stakeholder groups?
Staff
If you work for an organisation that has been prosecuted for not complying with Health and Safety legislation, would you be happy to continue to work for them?
It might be that you have no choice, given the current employment market but your loyalty to the company may be affected and consequently, your productivity.
It may also be difficult to attract high calibre staff to the organisation.
Customers
Customers may choose to shop elsewhere, which would have a knock-on effect on the organisation’s financial performance. In the public sector, service users may stop using the services you offer, which could lead to reduced funding from the government and subsequently job losses, reduction in service quality and so on.
Contractors
Contractors may not want to tender for contracts as they will not want to work for an organisation with a poor Health & Safety record. Alternatively, they may charge significantly higher fees or you may be forced to use more dubious suppliers for whom Health and Safety is not a priority.
Although we have focused on Health and Safety legislation, non-compliance with other types of legislation, such as Employment Law, can have similar consequences.
That’s all, folks!
That’s everything for this edition. We’ll be continuing the theme next time with a closer look at how (and why) we need to consider our performance against the FM Contract when considering stakeholder wants and needs.
But for now, have a great week!
Chris and the Xenon Team
P.S. If you haven’t already studied or started studying for an IWFM qualification, which will cover topics like this in depth and fully assess your understanding, you may want to have a look at our guide to the IWFM Qualifications which will give you a full breakdown of how they work and what’s involved in the different levels. You can download it here.
P.P.S. If you’re already considering taking a qualification but don’t know which level to go for, a good starting point is our One-Minute-Leveller tool, which will ask you a few questions and give you a recommendation based on the result. You can access it here.