The Ease of Non-Compliance (a Story of Kortney vs. Her Brain)

Post By: Kortney Nordrum, Regulatory Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Deluxe

Last week I had major surgery on my arm, in fact I’m typing this through dictation since I’m not allowed to type at all for another few weeks. Sitting at home for two weeks and doing a whole lot of nothing isn’t really who I am, I’ve been doing it for less than a week and I’ve read more than a dozen books and now I’m just bored (turns out all of my hobbies require two hands, or for there not to be an active pandemic). Like most people when they’re bored, I started thinking about how I can draw parallels between my real life and compliance. This one isn’t even that much of a stretch.

You see, as I sit at home “healing” I keep tempting myself to subvert the process, either because of the aforementioned boredom or because doing what I was told is harder than doing what I want to do (and very likely less fun). I want to use my arm. It’s my favorite arm and it has my favorite/dominant hand attached to it. I want to be able to pick up a pen or open a can of Diet Coke, neither of which I can do right now. I was told by several people who went to a whole lot of doctor school that using my arm right now is a really bad idea, like epically, can’t-feel-your-right-hand-for-the-rest-of-your-life bad. Knowing this, I’m still tempted to push the limits. BECAUSE I’M BORED AND I WANT TO DO STUFF. I think about all of the ways I can rationalize why doing what I want to do is okay, despite knowing, intellectually and rationally, that I shouldn’t do it.

One of the rationalizations is that doing what I want to do won’t hurt anyone else; I will be the one bearing the pain, I will be the one having to deal with the repercussions. It’s easy to rationalize doing what I want to do when the effects of doing that would only really hurt me. The problem is, that’s not the way it works. While I can rationalize all I want about how not listening to the doctor’s advice is really only going to hurt me, it’s likely not true. Yes, I’d be the one feeling the physical pain and I’d be the one getting yelled at, but others would have to suffer the consequences of my actions. My doctor, my insurance company, my work team, and my family would all have to deal with the additional implications of me making this choice. My doctor would need to provide me additional care and potentially undo damage that I’ve done. My insurance company would have to pay additional costs of seeing the doctor and being treated for the additional issues that arose do to me not listening to my doctor’s advice. It’s not too far-fetched to things that I’d need to take additional time off of work or take additional time to complete work that I would normally be able to do quickly and efficiently. This extra time would add additional stress to my work team, those I work for, those I work with, and those who work for me. My family has been lovely and have been taking great care of me since my surgery. If I do something against my doctor’s advice that causes additional problems my family would have to take care of (read: put up with) me longer, which isn’t fair to them.

You see, when it all adds up, it’s really not worth it. As much as I can minimize (in my head) the potential effects of my actions, it’s not fair to try to rationalize it as something that just hurts me. Compliance is the same way. Many times, people who break the rules are doing so because they think that that rule won’t make a difference or that if they’re caught, they’re the only one who’s going to suffer. But that’s not the case, anyone who breaks rules or makes unethical decisions has an impact on those around them and their organizations. As much as we’d like to think we’re not important and we’re just links in a chain, the real truth is that we’re not – we’re gears. We are interconnected, dependent on others, and others are dependent upon us. Especially in organizations, breaking the rules has an enormous impact. No one lives, or works, in a bubble.

Through the next week, and as I continue healing, I know that there will be temptations to cheat just a little bit – maybe open a bottle of water by myself or type a few words – little things that no one would notice, but doing them would give me that sense of freedom and autonomy that I really miss right now. Even as a compliance officer, I will have to continually remind myself that following the rules is the right thing to do. Breaking the rules, even if those rules seem arbitrary, may result in unnecessary pain, time, money, energy and goodwill being spent. Every day, just as many of our employees do, I’ll have to remind myself to make good choices.