Policy Enforcement & Emotional Stress

I have been having some interesting conversations recently about the emotional impact and stress that can occur for those charged with enforcing corporate policies. For my line of work it is the enforcement of security policies but there are many other corporate domains where this will apply such as Health and Safety, HR or Finance policies. Having done a bit of light research (well Google….) I have found numerous articles that discuss stressors and the impact on workers from the perspective of the person who is having to follow the policy, but I can’t find anything that talks from the perspective of the implementer/enforcer of the policy.

I was wondering therefore if there is a body of knowledge out there that discusses methods & techniques that those tasked with helping organisations maintain compliance with policies can employ to reduce the potential emotional and stress impact on themselves. I’m referring here to the emotional stress that is caused by having to repeatedly chase people and the feelings of therefore having what feels like a regular negative interaction with repeat offenders. Or perhaps being perceived (whether accurate or not) by their colleagues as the person who is always trying to catch people out for not following policies. Or maybe just being labelled a nagger for trying to do their job and ultimately help the company avoid some of the potential outcomes if policies aren’t followed.

When I look back on my previous working environments I can now see times when I have exhibited the same negative behaviours , or at least thoughts, towards “policy enforcers”. One example is an organisation that had a stair safety policy and sometimes had staff stationed as “stair monitors”due to some of their sites being out at sea i.e. you had to have one hand on the banister when using stairs for legitimate safety reasons. I’m sure my response to stair monitors could have been a lot more positive and I now wonder how they felt undertaking that role given the perception of that policy amongst 100% land based office workers.

I’m also keen to hear if there are strategies that people have successfully followed that enable the “enforcers” to either detach themselves from the stress of enforcement (e.g. using Slackbots or automated emails from a central email address for communications) or to be seen in a more positive light by their company colleagues whilst at the same time improving policy compliance across their organisations. One option I’m familiar with is nudge concepts for improving policy compliance but sometimes that can also lead to more contact points for the nudger to be seen in a negative light by nudgees.

Please do share any research you have seen on this subject and also your personal views and ideas on how to address these topics