Compliance Fatigue Syndrome is Real.

• Author: Miller, Brian D.
• Position: Ethics Coiner

* Forget chronic fatigue syndrome. A more serious ailment may be compliance fatigue syndrome. Which is more ruinous? Hint: One may result in time spent in a federal correctional institution.

In modern slang, is compliance fatigue syndrome even a thing? Unfortunately, it is a thing, but arguably it is a confused thing. Worse yet, if there is talk of it in an organization, it's a red flag--a big red flag. It means that the state of affairs is far worse than you believed.

What is compliance fatigue syndrome?

Urban Dictionary defines it as "a state of chronic fatigue induced by having to constantly maintain compliance with the ever-increasing variety of rules, regulations and processes created by middle management bureaucrats in both public and private organizations."

This frustration does not arise from an issue of whether to comply with legislation and regulations that have been lawfully passed and promulgated. This kind of frustration is with lawmakers and regulators who may be guilty of overregulation, which is ultimately a political issue.

Compliance fatigue syndrome is a misnomer in this situation. It is one thing to be frustrated at the increasing regulatory burdens placed on contractors and therefore "fatigued," but it is quite a different thing to be frustrated with compliance itself. The bottom line is this should not be called "compliance" fatigue but rather overregulation fatigue.

However, there may be resentment of time and money spent on compliance. In effect, this translates into the belief that compliance is a money pit with no benefit to the organization--a revenue drain rather than a revenue maker.

Budgets are tight in today's organizations, and money spent on compliance means that money won't be spent on revenue-producing programs. A manager might want to maximize spending on an important programmatic budget than on what may be considered "overhead." Unfortunately, that perspective betrays a culture that puts very little confidence in compliance.

Instead of viewing compliance programs as strengthening the organization, this attitude views them as just an obligation with little or no benefits. The proper attitude is to see how compliance is an outworking of the corporate culture that places great value on doing things right and making ethical corporate decisions. In the long run, an ethical company will gain a competitive advantage and will avoid devastating investigations and their consequences.

Resentment of the authority of...