Federal law requires that each government agency coordinate and implement an ethics program. These programs span different areas, including ethics rules training, advice and counseling, as well as annual financial disclosure reporting. Compliance is inherently cumbersome to manage, especially given the large number of employees at each agency.
In fact, ethics compliance management can seem downright daunting. This issue is complicated further in agencies that still rely on manual tools like emails and spreadsheets for compliance. Accurate and timely submission becomes critical as any case of non-compliance invites scrutiny from each agency’s office of the inspector general and the Government Accountability Office.
While the national narrative that automation may result in widespread job loss looms large, government agencies are leveraging automation to help reduce risk, maintain compliance and increase internal efficiency. Here are just a few examples of how agencies can explore automation strategies to overcome the challenges of ethics management.
Reduce Tedious Processes and Minimize Errors
Automating ethics processes helps to make employee self-reporting easier and less error-prone. For example, data entry for the OGE-450 financial disclosure form is a critical operation and still mainly accomplished via a PDF form. By automating this process, agencies can reduce employee time spent on mundane tasks while also ensuring accurate and timely data entry.
Another example: When processes such as ethics rules training are conducted manually, there are often numerous steps that require in-person prompting, introducing the potential for delay, inconsistency and mistakes. However, automation allows you to define a set of tasks to organize and formalize the process. As a result, employees can follow an automated series of prompts and events that are quickly and consistently repeatable to ensure compliance in line with annual reviews.
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