Side Quest

Despite the potential of technologies such as artificial intelligence to reshape the work undertaken by humans, there is still some way to go until this potential is realized. In the meantime, compliance staff still undertake repetitive tasks such as collecting and evaluating corporate KYC information or reviewing transaction alerts.

While the work of these staff is critical to successfully protecting the financial system from illicit activity, this may not be readily visible to the staff involved due to the “distance” between their daily tasks and the real-world effects. This has implications for recruitment, retention, and performance.

With resource constraints that may slow promotions or pay increases, particularly in “high cost” locations, what actions can compliance leaders take to improve motivation, increase engagement, and achieve enhanced outcomes with the resources available?

Discretionary Initiatives: The Side Quest

In the compliance setting, a “side quest” is a short-term, discretionary task, offered as an optional activity in parallel with a staff member’s primary role. Side quests recognize that a staff member may have skills, motivations, or interests that are not part of their current job, and which they would like to utilize. A staff member may be motivated to take on a side quest due to the alignment of the discretionary task with their personal values, to develop new skills or knowledge to support their next career step, or to explore and learn.

What are the characteristics that result in a successful compliance side quest? It should:

• Be a non-critical task since it is performed in parallel with the staff member’s primary role
• Have flexible timelines so that progress can be adjusted around their primary role workload
• Have a tangible output so that the staff member can directly see the results of their work and to demonstrate achievement in their end-of-year appraisal or on their resume
• Ideally be externally visible so that the staff member can share the output with family, friends, or professional connections
• Be discretionary – it is not a replacement for a permanent/full-time resources

Most importantly, like all side quests, the initiative must be voluntary and aligned with the staff member’s personal motivations and interests, such as developing new skills or knowledge to support career development.

Side Quest Replay: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Infographic

The website of a financial institution had several infographics representing different aspects of money laundering. The objective was to inform the bank’s external stakeholders about the scale of money laundering using data and descriptions, and to communicate the actions the bank was taking to counter illicit financial flows. However, maintaining multiple external infographics was a time-intensive task and resources were not always available to make updates. In particular, the main AML infographic was outdated and had not been updated for several years.

One of the managers identified that updating the infographic could be a potential side quest for a junior colleague in the transaction monitoring team. Through their primary role in transaction monitoring, members of this team would have the AML knowledge required to take on the project. The task did not have a fixed deadline, so it could be adapted around the staff member’s primary responsibilities.

The staff member who volunteered for the task was a recent graduate who had studied literature, and was currently working as an analyst in the bank’s transaction monitoring team. She enjoyed researching and comparing different sources to identify which would be most suitable for a specific purpose and audience. The manager adapted the scope of the AML infographic update to align with these interests: rather than simply check for newer numbers from the same sources, the analyst was encouraged to look for new sources and metrics which might be more informative – a task she completed with great success.

The analyst also enjoyed the creative aspects of visually representing the new metrics and commentaries, so the manager approved her to liaise directly with the external design agency to come up with a proposal for the new infographic. This provided an opportunity for her to gain an understanding of the design and editing process. With a few minor adjustments, the new infographic was published on the bank’s website.

The outcome was that the analyst had a tangible demonstration of her work, along with achievements that she could use during performance appraisals, for career progression, and to show her friends and family the value of her work. By understanding the scale of money laundering and what banks could do, she was able to link her usual tasks with the broader positive impact of her work on the community. There were also advantages for the bank: the infographic was now up-to-date, improving the bank’s reputation with its external stakeholders and enhancing the knowledge of its readers.

In addition to side quests, there are other ways to improve engagement and motivation even when facing resource constraints. Let’s look at two other ways to achieve this.

Aligning Task and Purpose: External Engagements

Knowledge and experience exist at all levels of seniority – including within staff who are at more junior job grades. While this is not new, it is particularly likely with the increasing prevalence of career changes, moves between the public and private sector, or life decisions which may include breaks for personal projects or family responsibilities. Many staff seek recognition for their capabilities, to more fully utilize their knowledge and experience, or to take on projects aligned with their personal values and purpose.

One way to achieve this is to draw on a wider pool of staff to represent the firm at external events. There can sometimes be a tendency to nominate the “department head” or “team lead” when an institution is identifying a panelist, speaker, or representative for an external working group.

Instead, a compliance leader could consider whether one of their team would be equally capable – or even more expert – at representing their firm. For example, a colleague who joined from law enforcement may have extensive counter-terrorism experience from their prior career, which would add depth to their more recent financial industry experience in terrorism financing. They would be ideally suited to join a panel on these subjects, even if they hold a more junior corporate job grade than the department head.

Representing a business externally provides recognition, both internal and external, for the staff member’s knowledge and experience and supports further career progression.

Linking Action and Effect: Communication

Wherever possible, the internal and external outcomes should be communicated back to the teams involved, at a level of detail that meets confidentiality and security requirements.

For example, a transaction alert might lead to an investigation within the compliance department which identifies indicators of human trafficking. This may result in a suspicious activity report (SAR) filing, which is used in a law enforcement investigation and later results in criminal prosecution or seizure of criminal assets. Communicating this outcome to the compliance department conveys the significant real-world impact of the work of the transaction monitoring team, enabling staff to see the connection between their work and the positive effects on their community.

The public sector, along with public-private partnerships, must also take action to achieve this outcome. While there may necessarily be a time delay between the filing of a SAR and communication of its value – to avoid compromising an ongoing investigation – providing some feedback is key to linking work and effect.

Conclusion

Through initiatives such as side quests, compliance officers can “humanize” work which may otherwise be repetitive or seem disconnected from the real-world effects. While the primary components of a compliance program fulfil regulatory responsibilities, discretionary initiatives can be influential in improving recruitment, retention, and staff engagement. They can also demonstrate how banks are fulfilling their social responsibilities as they protect the financial system from illicit activity, enhancing the reputation of the bank to regulators and the community.