If you’re running a business in Australia or New Zealand, one question that keeps many employers up at night is: “Am I doing enough to meet my legal compliance obligations?” The answer isn’t as simple as ticking a few boxes. Compliance training isn’t just about avoiding fines (though those can be eye-watering). It’s about creating a workplace where people feel safe, respected, and valued.

Australian employers are legally required to provide workplace health and safety training and prevent unlawful conduct, and that’s where compliance training becomes non-negotiable. Let’s dive into what you need to know about mandatory compliance training courses, which are essential, and how to approach them without losing your sanity.

What Exactly Is Mandatory Compliance Training?

Think of compliance training as your business’s insurance policy against legal nightmares. Compliance training educates employees on laws or regulations applicable to their job function or industry. These aren’t optional “nice to haves” – they’re legal requirements designed to protect both your staff and your organisation.

Safe Work Australia estimates that work-related stress and bullying cost Australian employers $693 million every year, and the maximum penalty for breaching the Work Health and Safety Act is $3 million. Those numbers should prompt anyone to sit up and take notice. But beyond the dollar figures, there’s something more important: your duty of care to the people who work for you.

The landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years. From 1 July 2024, Australian employers must comply with a new positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment, sex discrimination and victimisation in the workplace. This isn’t about ticking boxes, regulators want to see genuine, meaningful training that changes behaviour and culture.

The Core List of Mandatory Compliance Training

Let’s cut through the noise and get to what you need. While specific requirements vary by industry and jurisdiction, there’s a foundational list of compliance training that applies to virtually every Australian and New Zealand workplace.

1. Work Health and Safety (WHS)

This is the big one. Under WHS laws, employers are required to provide information, instruction, and training to keep workers safe. This includes everything from basic workplace safety to emergency response procedures and hazard reporting.

The Sentrient Work Health and Safety course covers legislation for all states and territories in Australia, with a separate course covering NZ legislation. These help staff understand their responsibilities in contributing to a safe workplace. For managers, there’s a specialised version that includes case studies to prepare them for real-world scenarios they might face.

2. Sexual Harassment Prevention

Here’s where things have gotten serious. Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act require all organisations and businesses to take steps to eliminate work-related sexual harassment, including providing relevant education and training for all workers.

This isn’t about showing a dusty video from 1995. Modern sexual harassment training should be engaging, scenario-based, and conducted regularly. The Sentrient Sexual Harassment course has been legally endorsed by Mills Oakley Lawyers for Australia and Simpson Grierson Lawyers for New Zealand, ensuring it meets current legislative requirements.

For managers and supervisors, there’s additional training that goes deeper into their responsibilities for preventing harassment and handling complaints appropriately.

3. Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is a psychosocial hazard that employers must actively manage and address. The training needs to help staff identify what bullying looks like (because it’s not always obvious), understand its impact, and know how to report it safely.

Sentrient’s Workplace Bullying course addresses these issues directly, while the manager’s version equips leadership with the tools to address and resolve bullying situations effectively.
Privacy and Data Protection

With the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles and Privacy Act 20202 (NZ) governing how we handle personal information, privacy training has become essential. Best practice employers choose to meet the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles, even if they aren’t required to do so, and include this information in their induction training.

The Sentrient Privacy course teaches staff how to safely collect, use and disclose personal information, maintain data quality and security, and handle complaints about privacy breaches – all crucial skills in our digital age.

4. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Discrimination has no place in modern workplaces but preventing it requires more than good intentions. Equal Employment Opportunity training helps staff understand protected attributes (prohibited grounds of discrimination in NZ), recognise discriminatory behaviour, and contribute to a truly inclusive workplace.

The Sentrient EEO course covers Australian federal and state anti-discrimination legislation, and NZ legislation ensuring your team understands their rights and responsibilities.

5. Diversity and Inclusion

Going beyond basic anti-discrimination training, diversity and inclusion education addresses how to work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those with different genders, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities. Research shows that inclusive workplaces enjoy higher productivity, innovation and customer satisfaction.

Sentrient offers both staff and manager versions of their Diversity and Inclusion course, recognising that leaders need additional skills to create and maintain inclusive teams.

Industry-Specific and Role-Based Training

Beyond the core courses, your compliance training needs will expand based on your industry and the specific roles within your organisation.

For Managers and Supervisors

Leadership comes with additional responsibilities. Managers need specialised training in areas like:

These aren’t just nice skills to have; they’re essential. They’re necessary for meeting your organisation’s duty of care obligations.

Additional Compliance Areas

Depending on your business, you might also need training in:

Awareness Courses That Add Value

Beyond mandatory compliance training, a range of awareness courses is available to strengthen your compliance program and address specific industry needs.

Sentrient’s awareness courses include practical topics like:

For NDIS providers, there are specialised courses including:

  1. Cultural Awareness
  2. Food Safety
  3. Hand Hygiene
  4. Medication Management
  5. Positive Behavioural Support
  6. Restrictive Practices

These industry-specific courses ensure that you meet not only general workplace obligations but also sector-specific requirements.

How Often Should You Conduct Compliance Training?

Here’s where many employers get it wrong. Compliance training isn’t a one-and-done checkbox exercise. Employers should provide annual refreshers on core compliance topics, as well as short update modules when laws, policies, or systems change.

Best practice suggests:

  • At induction: Core compliance courses for all new starters
  • Annually: Refresher training on key topics like WHS, harassment, and privacy
  • As needed: Updates when legislation changes or new risks emerge
  • Role-based: Additional training when staff move into management positions

The Sentrient online compliance courses are designed to fit this rhythm. Each course takes just 10-15 minutes for staff versions and slightly longer for manager courses. They’re short enough that people will complete them, but comprehensive enough to meet legal requirements.

What Makes Effective Compliance Training?

Let’s be honest, most compliance training is boring. People zone out, click through slides without reading them, and promptly forget everything they’ve “learned.” That’s not just ineffective; it’s potentially dangerous.

Recent cases have reminded employers that training is an essential part of business operations, and failure to implement appropriate and regular training may result in legal risks, including penalties and compensation payable. The courts don’t look kindly on tick-box training that doesn’t change behaviour.

Effective compliance training should be:

  • Legally endorsed: The Sentrient courses have been written in partnership with leading law firms, ensuring they’re not just comprehensive but lawfully sound.
  • Regularly updated: Legislation changes, and your training needs to keep pace. Sentrient reviews all courses regularly to ensure content remains current and relevant.
  • Practical and scenario-based: Real-world examples help people understand how compliance issues arise in their workplace.
  • Short and focused: Completing a course in 15-20 minutes means higher completion rates and better retention than hour-long sessions.
  • Accessible: Being able to deploy training through your existing systems (whether that’s Sentrient’s platform or your own SCORM-compliant LMS) removes barriers to completion.
  • Tracked and measured: You need to be able to prove people have completed training and understood the material.

The Business Case Beyond Compliance

Yes, avoiding fines and legal action is important. But there’s a broader business case for getting compliance training right.

  1. Reduced incidents: Well-trained staff are less likely to create compliance issues in the first place.
  2. Better culture: When people understand expectations around behaviour and respect, workplace culture improves.
  3. Lower turnover: Employees are more likely to stay in workplaces where they feel safe and valued.
  4. Productivity gains: Time spent dealing with complaints, investigations, and legal issues is time not spent on productive work.
  5. Reputation protection: In the age of social media, compliance failures can become highly public and quickly.

Common Compliance Training Mistakes to Avoid

Having reviewed countless compliance programs, I’ve seen the same mistakes repeated:

  • Mistake 1- Treating it as a one-time event: Compliance training needs to be ongoing. People forget, laws change, and new risks emerge.
  • Mistake 2- Using generic, overseas content: Australian and New Zealand legislation is specific. Training that references American or British law isn’t only useless, but also potentially misleading.
  • Mistake 3- Forgetting about managers: Your frontline staff might complete basic training, but if managers lack the skills to handle complaints or manage performance issues effectively, you’re still vulnerable.
  • Mistake 4- No follow-up or accountability: Training without consequences for non-completion or non-compliance is pointless. You need systems to track completion and address any issues that arise.
  • Mistake 5- Ignoring industry-specific requirements: While core compliance training applies across industries, sector-specific requirements (like those for NDIS providers, construction companies, or financial services) can’t be overlooked.

Getting Started with Your Compliance Training Program

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start here:

  • Step 1- Audit Your Current Training: What Do You Already Have? What’s missing? When was it last updated?
  • Step 2- Identify your must-haves: At a minimum, you need WHS, sexual harassment, workplace bullying, privacy, and EEO training for all staff members.
  • Step 3- Consider role-based needs: Managers need additional training. Industry-specific roles might need specialised courses.
  • Step 4- Choose a delivery method: Whether you use a dedicated compliance platform like Sentrient or integrate courses into your existing LMS, make sure the system works for your team.
  • Step 5- Set a schedule: Plan induction training for new starters and annual refreshers for existing staff. Mark it in your calendar and stick to it.
  • Step 6- Track and report: Keep records of who has completed what training and when. You’ll need this if regulators come knocking.
  • Step 7- Review and Update: At least annually, review whether your training remains fit for purpose and meets current legislative requirements.

The Role of Technology in Compliance Training

Gone are the days of gathering everyone in a room for a two-hour PowerPoint presentation (and thank goodness for that). Modern compliance training leverages technology to make training more accessible and effective.
Cloud-based platforms enable staff to complete training anywhere, at any time, a crucial advantage in today’s flexible work environment. Mobile-friendly courses let people learn on their devices during their commute or lunch break. Automated tracking means you always know who’s up to date and who needs a reminder.

The Sentrient platform exemplifies this approach. Courses can be deployed through their Compliance System, HR Platform, or licensed to use in third-party SCORM-compliant systems. This flexibility means training fits around your business, not the other way around.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Compliance Training

Compliance training isn’t static. As workplaces evolve, so do the risks and the regulatory response. The right to disconnect was introduced in Australia in August 2024, changing how employers can communicate with employees outside regular working hours. This is just one example of how the compliance landscape continues to shift.

Smart organisations don’t wait for new legislation to force change. They stay ahead by:

  • Monitoring regulatory developments and updating training proactively
  • Collecting feedback from staff about training effectiveness
  • Measuring behaviour change, not just completion rates
  • Creating a culture where compliance is everyone’s responsibility, not just HR’s problem

Final Thoughts

Compliance training might not be the most exciting part of running a business, but it’s one of the most important. The list of mandatory compliance training might seem daunting, but breaking it down into core courses, role-based training, and industry-specific requirements makes it manageable.

The key is to view compliance training not as a burden, but as an investment in your people and your organisation’s future. When staff understand their rights and responsibilities, when managers have the skills to lead effectively, and when everyone knows how to identify and address issues before they escalate, that’s when you’ve built something valuable.

Platforms like Sentrient make this achievable for organisations of all sizes. With legally endorsed courses, flexible delivery options, and content that’s designed to be completed in under 20 minutes, there’s no excuse for letting compliance training slide.

Remember, training records are key evidence that you took reasonable steps to comply with your obligations. When (not if) you need to demonstrate your compliance efforts, you’ll be grateful for every completed course, every updated policy, and every training record you’ve maintained.

Start with the essentials: Work Health and Safety, Sexual Harassment, Workplace Bullying, Privacy, and Equal Employment Opportunity. Build from there based on your industry and roles. Keep it regular, keep it relevant, and keep it real. Your people and your business will thank you for it.

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