Learn to identify and redirect unethical behavior at CW Ethics & Compliance Summit

A panel at Compliance Week’s Ethics and Compliance Summit, led by compliance consultant Tiffany Archer and University of Miami professor Marcia Narine Weldon, will use interactive exercises, real-world case studies, and Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance to “equip participants with actionable tools to navigate high-pressure environments and build stronger, more human-centered compliance cultures.” The summit is being held March 19-20 at Boston University.

There are negative workplace pressures that can contribute to unethical behavior, according to Archer and Weldon, who are both former chief compliance officers. Those pressures include stress, decision fatigue, sleep deprivation, threat prioritization, cognitive overload, and time pressure. Weldon, who is also the CEO and founder of Illuminating Wisdom, a coaching and consulting firm leveraging applied neuroscience, said that the brain produces chemicals in response to these environments that can demotivate ethical behavior.

Having a deeper understanding of how the brain responds to such stressors can help companies not simply enforce compliance, Weldon said, but rather inspire ethical behavior that lasts.

Compliance leaders can foster ethical decision-making by better understanding why employees break rules and laws, and then use practical behavioral interventions to stop and redirect behaviors, Archer said.

“Compliance is a human-centric function,” said Archer, president and founder of Eunomia Risk Advisory. Archer argued that utilizing behavioral insights and data-driven strategies can uncover motivations behind unethical decision-making.

Once the motivations are uncovered, compliance can implement “human-focused interventions that actually work, enabling resilient compliance frameworks and ethical corporate cultures,” she said.

Archer said that some unethical behavior may be predicted. For example, sales employees coming up on a deadline might attempt to circumvent internal controls to complete a sale. Internal controls are in place to ensure sales are made ethically to align with corporate policy. Recognizing patterns of prior violations, and the motivation behind them, can help focus the compliance response.

Archer said that compliance can respond with a series of well-timed digital “nudges” to remind employees of company policies at particularly stressful times, like when deadlines are looming. She also recommends implementing a “choice architecture” that promotes ethical actions.

Behavioral analytics can also use corporate data to monitor employee behavior for potential compliance violations by finding and interpreting patterns. But not all violations—even violations of the same policy—should be handled the same way.

Take for example the widespread and longstanding violations by employees at broker-dealers and investment firms who used unapproved mobile phone apps to conduct company business.

Federal regulators conducted a three-year sweep of off-channel communication violations, fining firms nearly $3.6 billion from 2021-24. Broker-dealers are required by federal securities laws to keep records of all business-related communications, while investment advisors are required to keep records of all communications related to investment advice.

What was driving the off-channel use? In some cases, employees were simply conducting business on the messaging app out of convenience for customers. In other cases, regulators found that employees were using the apps to shield their illegal activities.

Understanding the motivation for the use of unapproved messaging apps by employees in those firms helped them craft an appropriate response.

Archer said the panel will include insights in how to identify behavioral triggers, implement micro adjustments, and create digital nudges that are part of “sustainable compliance frameworks built to thrive amid uncertainty.”