We’re sure you’ve got plans for your business in 2021. Whatever they are, you need to be sure you are compliant with all laws that regulate your operations. Here are 3 legal resolutions you should make for your business this year:
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Appoint a Privacy Officer
Appointing a Privacy Officer is a critical step in developing a chain of accountability and ensuring privacy has ‘a voice’ in your business. Elect someone at the decision-making level and empower them with a legal budget for the year, as well as a budget and time allocation for education and training.
Our Privacy Checklist for California Businesses is a good starting point for your Privacy Officer to assess your current privacy strengths and weaknesses.
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Make Long-Term Plans for Work-From-Home Arrangements
Many businesses put temporary ‘fixes’ in place when the pandemic hit. But, the changes to working arrangements are likely to span long into the future – if not permanently. It’s time to update your policies and practices to adapt to work-from-home forming part of the new normal.
Review your employee handbook, BYO device policies, and existing cybersecurity infrastructure to start. Contemplate how your business will approach work-from-home arrangements for the coming years, and ensure your internal documents reflect the reality you’re planning for.
If they don’t, the documents will need to be redrafted. We recommend working alongside your IT team as you develop your policies and processes to minimize the cybersecurity risk your staff pose to your business.
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Increase Diversity in Your Workplace
Two separate bills require publicly traded companies headquartered in California to increase diversity at the board level. The first mandates increased female representation, while the more recent requires increased representation of minority populations.
But workplace diversity offers benefits to companies of all sizes. In fact, the World Economic Forum describes the business case for workplace diversity as being ‘overwhelming’.
By increasing diversity in your business, you invite increased innovation and better profits, while making it easier to attract and retain millennial talent – amongst other benefits.
Take a look at your hiring processes and promotion criteria as a starting point for increasing diversity.
If your business needs assistance meeting your legal obligations (or these legal resolutions), feel free to reach out. We’re here to help!
Disclaimer
The materials available at this website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Use of and access to this website or any of the e-mail links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship between CGL and the user or browser. The opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of the firm or any individual attorney.
