In the webinar ABES NOVOS TEMPOS "The virtualization of corporate activities under the Compliance aspects", held by ABES on July 22, there was an important debate on the digital transformation, changes in corporate environments and how to avoid the judicialization of processes in areas such as data protection and labor relations. The event was opened by Anselmo Gentile, executive director of the association, who welcomed the speakers and participants.
Carolina Marzano, ABES Compliance Officer, was the moderator of the webinar and she recalled that the entity was one of the first to implement a Compliance program. Carolina also spoke of the An Ethical Company initiative, which “has as a priority to raise awareness among associates and the market as a whole about the importance of implementing an ethics and integrity program, and respecting the laws in force in Brazil and in the world”.
The speakers shared their experiences about the adjustments that were necessary in the work routine, given the challenges generated by the pandemic, how the gradual resumption of in-person activity is taking place and the changes that will end up becoming permanent.
self-regulation
Sofia Matos, partner at the Portuguese law firm Antas da Cunha, spoke of the importance for companies to self-regulate more than waiting for the State's determinations. “Brazil is much better able to work with self-regulation and work with compliance rules. In Portugal, this is still a long way from the mentality of our companies and economic groups. One of the main concerns involves the protection of personal data that started to circulate on the network and in people's homes”. Another point raised by her was the discussion around the control of hours worked, which should change in the telework regime – the counting of hours leaves and the performance of tasks enters.
telecommuting policy
Francisco Camargo, Chairman of the Board of ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies, Founder and CEO of the CLM Group, spoke about the challenge of ensuring that employees are respecting internal rules. “A compliance policy is an attempt to bring ethics into organizations. With the home office, we have identified solutions that allow for remote monitoring of the employee's activity, but we were careful to create a telework policy with guidelines and make them aware of this monitoring”, he observed.
Technology support
Next, José Roberto Salvini, Banco BV's Governance, Legal and Compliance Officer, highlighted that the banks, as they deal with their own and third-party resources, already carry out their activities under strong regulation, but it was necessary to count on a lot of commitment from everyone. “We have to rely on a lot of technology, especially information security. At the same time, we have pressure for business results. Ethics and integrity within a corporation are important aspects of organizational culture, regardless of the political-economic scenario”.
Avoid judicialization
José Moscati, Accenture's Market Unit Legal Director – Latin America, said that the company is a large global company with more than 500 thousand employees, having to deal with the laws of different countries. In Brazil, he commented that the issue of overtime is going to be one of the challenges of teleworking to prevent this aspect from generating lawsuits. "We need to strengthen the commitment of all employees with the compliance rules", he pondered.
Trust and risk management
The panel was attended by Mendel Diesendruck, Controls & Compliance Lead from Microsoft Brazil. He stressed that compliance is part of the company's culture. “Almost everything also depends on the trust that is built with employees, partners and customers”. He commented that the virtualization and home office process makes risk management necessary. “We already had a home office culture in the company, we established rules of what can or cannot be done with the devices made available by the company. We still don't know when we will be back, but we are already studying the facilities and the necessary changes in the office. We see that people are missing human contact. It has been a huge learning experience”, he observed.
To watch the full content of this webinar, click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPbRZWH9WkM
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