11 May 2026
Starting a new job can feel a bit like the first day at school.
There are new faces everywhere asking you random ice-breaker questions like “what’s your favourite film”, alongside plenty of new systems and processes to get up to speed on.
Not to mention the new passwords you’re expected to remember that you’ve definitely already forgotten.
Somewhere between the IT setup, HR paperwork, meeting your new colleagues and learning where the good biscuits are hidden, compliance training can easily find itself at the bottom of the pile.
However, not encouraging new members to complete their compliance training in their early weeks with the firm can be where future issues stem from.
As much as people tend to believe onboarding processes are there to tick boxes for regulators, it is actually a great way to help new starters settle in quickly.
Why is onboarding so important?
Procedures, reporting lines, client care standards, file management, confidentiality rules, Anti-Money Laundering controls, you name it, every firm will have its own way of doing things.
Even experienced hires need time to adjust, never mind the newbies.
New starters cannot follow rules they have never been shown.
You’d think this would be obvious, yet many firms still rely on rushed inductions or the classic approach of “someone will probably mention it eventually”.
All it takes is a missed ID check or an offhand comment sent to the wrong person to create unnecessary risk for your firm (surprisingly quickly), but good onboarding helps prevent those issues before they happen.
Compliance training should not feel like punishment
Experience has taught us that nobody learns much from being handed a giant policy folder and told to “have a read when you get a minute”.
New starters already have plenty to take in without piling that on top too.
Compliance training works far better when it is clear and broken into manageable pieces, so they can get on with it easily while sipping their third coffee of the morning.
Remember, the goal here is to give them confidence, not for them to end up more confused than when they started.
People should leave onboarding understanding:
They should also be given copies of the details for each of the above so they can return to them whenever they feel like they need a reminder.
Tailor your training to the person
Not every new starter needs exactly the same training.
A senior solicitor or account manager joining the team is likely to need something different from a receptionist or paralegal.
Compliance onboarding should reflect the person’s role and level of responsibility rather than treating everyone like interchangeable office furniture.
That also means updating training regularly.
Regulations and risks are constantly changing in your sector, so your resources (and team) deserve to be given an upgrade every now and again.
Nobody wants to discover their onboarding materials still reference procedures predating Google.
Your firm’s culture will impact the new starters’ approach to compliance
A bunch of policies and procedures are essentially useless if nobody actively abides by them.
New staff quickly pick up on whether compliance is genuinely taken seriously or just viewed as an annoyance everyone tries to avoid.
If managers ignore procedures or treat training like a nuisance, new starters will notice. People tend to follow what their colleagues teach them or what they’ve witnessed them doing, rather than what the handbook says.
There’s a reason the saying ‘monkey see, monkey do’ has stuck around for more than a century.
Good onboarding helps create a culture where asking questions is encouraged and where speaking up about concerns is not made to feel like they are on trial.
Keeping proper records of onboarding
Naturally, none of this is particularly useful if you cannot demonstrate it to your regulators when asked.
Training logs, attendance records, completed assessments and signed acknowledgements all help demonstrate that onboarding has actually taken place.
Keeping organised records also makes refresher training much easier to manage later on. Nobody enjoys chasing staff members trying to work out whether they completed AML training sometime around last Christmas.
How we can help
Our compliance training platform helps legal and accountancy firms quickly get their new starters onboarded and up to speed from the get-go.
Our modules give new starters all the guidance they need on the all-important areas, including AML, data protection, ethics, fire safety and wider regulatory responsibilities.
The platform also comes with a few extra perks, including the ability to upload your own training resources, so staff can access everything they need in one place rather than hunting through inboxes and mysterious desktop files called “Health and Safety 101 Final Version Updated NEW”.
We also help firms keep proper training records and monitor completion, making onboarding far easier to manage across teams.
Want to learn more about our training platform and how it can help you onboard new staff? Book your demo with our experts.