Why don't we follow the corona rules?

In August of this year, Dutch Minister of Justice and Safety Grapperhaus celebrated his wedding in The Netherlands. Jolly pictures of the wedding appeared a few days later in magazines and on social media, showing the minister and dozens of his guests in close contact with each other, despite the 1.5 meter social distancing rule implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Grapperhaus is responsible for enforcing these rules with fines and even criminal records, public outrage was great.  Measures against coronavirus had recently sharpened due to the anticipated second wave, and the government was reminding people to avoid large groups, keep their distance and wash their hands regularly.  But on top of that, Grapperhaus himself had repeatedly admonished people in The Netherlands who had not followed the rules, calling such behavior "anti-social".  Grapperhaus allowed "no concessions whatsoever" on the 1.5m distance—yet, several pictures came out of the Minister of Justice and his guests clearly violating that rule.  What was good enough for the goose, clearly wasn't good enough for the gander. While Mr. Grapperhaus offered his profound apologies and paid an amount similar to the fine to the Red Cross, his credibility as Minister of Justice was severely tainted. Several debates followed in Dutch Parliament on Grapperhaus' ability to stay on as Minister, as well as challenges to the current enforcement policy and rules against coronavirus.

The rules and measures to help us in the battle against the COVID-19 virus are not without controversy. With every new wave of coronavirus, governments worldwide have to decide what measures to implement, how fast, with whom, how long, and so on. Sometimes these measures are effective, sometimes they are not, and sometimes we do not even know what works and what does not. With so many rules in place, constantly changing depending on the state and severity of the COVID-19 virus and evolving medical research findings, it's hard to keep track of what to do. Consequently, people in countries like The Netherlands have grown tired of the rules.  We have seen increasing dissatisfaction, protests, and even willful non-compliance with yet another set of measures, implemented by a government itself describes as a "devilish dilemma".

Having worked almost 25 years in Governance, Risk & Compliance, I see an interesting analogy between the rules surrounding coronavirus, and compliance with laws and regulations in general. Using examples from the last seven months in The Netherlands, this analogy between COVID-19 and compliance breaks down in five surprisingly close similarities:

1. A little bit compliant doesn’t exist

With the newest measures against coronavirus, one of the rules is to not invite more than three people at home. Prime Minister Rutte encouraged people to please follow that rule, and avoid "block birthday parties", where multiple "blocks" of three people would be invited over the course of a day-long celebration. In general, Rutte reminded us to not look for the "edges of the law". Yet, as soon as this measure became effective, people were already looking for exceptions or interpretations: “Is it ok to invite more than three people if they don’t come from more than three families/households?”

Companies, too, often seek exceptions when implementing new laws and regulations. They may talk about living and following the "spirit of the law", but often end up complying with just the letter of the law—and sometimes not even that. Black and white doesn't exist in compliance, they may say, and they may speak of "grey areas of the law". Unfortunately, a little bit compliance doesn't exist; you either comply or you don't, and non-compliance comes with consequences, such as fines. Just like the coronavirus.

2. “I’ve been good all week, so it's OK if I...”

While a little bit compliant does not exist, being compliant all the time is very hard and can be incredibly boring. Worse, it may not achieve the results we are seeking. This applies pretty much any time we are trying to accomplish something and set ourselves goals. It's human nature to give ourselves a break, such as: I've worked out every day this week, maybe I can take a break today. I haven't drank/smoked/eaten meat in a while, maybe I can cut loose a bit tonight. I've worn my face mask, kept 1.5m distance and washed my hands until they were raw, maybe I can go to a party this Friday even if there are 30 people.

This human behavior happens in companies, too. When people talk about compliance, it sometimes goes hand in hand with a “we don’t have to be holier-than-thou” statement or attitude. Companies may justify or rationalize non-compliance by pointing out the good things they have already done, or the progress that has been made in other areas.  People like to pour the glass half-full, and emphasize the positive, and this is completely natural and understandable.  But being good in one thing does not provide an excuse or allowance for being bad in something else; that would be hypocrite. We cannot be good all week, and bad on the weekend, or we undermine all of our efforts.

3. The pot calling the kettle black

While some may circumvent the rules against coronavirus “just this once”, we get really annoyed if others do that as well, or worse.  Suddenly, we do become “holier-than-thou”.  Interestingly, there seems to be a direct correlation here between the level of annoyance, and the authority of the other person violating the coronavirus rules: The higher or more public the person, the greater our moral indignity, and our preparedness to nail him or her to the highest tree.  We may be somewhat annoyed if a friend or neighbor talks enthusiastically about their trip to an amber-coded country.  We may question the behavior of colleagues still gathering in the office, or attending parties.  But people got really ticked off, and called for a reversal of the rules and enforcement, when Minister Grapperhaus visibly hugged his friends and family at his wedding.  And when the King of The Netherlands went with his family to Greece, he became the focal point of criticism on social media. The question of ministerial responsibility for the Monarch and his family was once again a point of Parliamentary debate, even though, strictly by the coronavirus rules in place at the time, the King and his family were on a private trip, and had actually followed the new corona measures to the letter.

We see this pot-calling-the-kettle-black phenomenon with the coronarules in compliance, too. Questionable behavior of an entry-level employee may be forgiven, even if it’s not completely by the rules.  A manager, however, must set the tone and always do the right thing—and if they don’t, suffer the consequences, even if their position is understandable, and others may have been at fault as well.  The CEO or Board Director must really go above and beyond to lead by example, demonstrate compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law, and maintain an absolutely untarnished reputation.  They are held to a much higher standard than other employees, and consequences of non-compliance are often much more severe.

4. The rules are constantly changing, it is hard to keep up

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and medical professionals are trying to get a grip on stopping the virus, setting different rules and measures, to different levels of success.  Partial or complete lockdowns, number of people in a locale, public and inside rules, masks or no masks; we’ve seen a plethora of rules and measures in the past months, and we have seen them change regularly.  Keeping track of the rules is difficult which explains at least to some extent the non-compliance and violations.  

But as we all know, ignorance of the law is not an excuse.  A good example is traffic violations.  If you get a ticket for speeding, you may be annoyed, but you will probably pay the ticket because, well, you were speeding and that's against the law.  It’s no good to challenge it by claiming you weren’t aware the maximum speed had changed from 120 to 100km/h.  Even if you get a ticket abroad, in a country where you don’t understand the language, let alone the rules, you will have to pay that ticket.  We have accepted this, even if we may not like it, because we know those are just the rules.  The difference with our acceptance of the coronavirus rules is perhaps because it’s all so new, and so unprecedented beyond anything we have encountered so far.  We are making the rules as we go, and must constantly adapt, as we find that not all the rules work immediately, or (as) effectively.  That lack of success breeds frustration, and frustration breeds non-compliance.  The laws and regulations about traffic have existed since we drive cars, and they have been implemented, modified and followed for over a century.  The rules of coronavirus are about half a year old, are changing, aren’t always effective, and we find it hard to accept that.

5. Compliance and behavior

So far, the similarities I have shown are somewhat negative, so my last analogy between the coronavirus rules and compliance is a positive one.  As Prime Minister Rutte said during the October 27th press conference on coronavirus: “The most important lever we have, is and remains our own behavior, meaning compliance with the rules.  We will never regret more compliance.”

In this case, Prime Minister Rutte is absolutely right, in my opinion.  Closely following the rules on coronavirus, and not seeking exceptions, will help us all in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, will ease pressure on our caretakers and hospitals, and return us all to health sooner rather than later.  But I also want to highlight here Mr. Rutte’s appeal to our behavior.  The government can make and implement rules, but the effectiveness of those rules, and our success in fighting coronavirus greatly depends on our behavior.  When Mr. Rutte talked about not seeking the edges of the law, he put the principle above the rule, and called on our behavior and common sense to make sure we all remain healthy.

This, in essence, also determines the success or failure of compliance in our companies: Behavior, conduct, principles and values above rules, our willingness to live not just by the letter, but especially by the spirit of the law.  When a company and its employees follow the rules because they believe it is ultimately good for the business, their customers, suppliers, and society as a whole, behavior changes for the good. Compliance becomes embedded in operations, and a healthy culture and good business outcomes are the result.