Here’s a question that’s stumping more HR leaders than you’d expect: Where does compliance actually live in your technology stack?
There is not a simple answer, as regulatory topics have become among the most fragmented areas of HR tech. This creates confusion when HR leaders try to determine where compliance lives, what tools they actually need and which categories are essential.
Breaking down compliance concerns
A new category guide from Aspect43, the research division of analyst firm Jumpstart HR, attempts to map this confusing terrain. Written for practitioners rather than legal specialists, it breaks compliance technology into four distinct categories and explains how organizations typically evolve through them as complexity grows.
One of the guide’s most useful sections is a four-stage maturity model that describes how compliance programs evolve:
- Foundational: basic requirements through HRIS/payroll
- Operational: adding point solutions for specific risks
- Strategic: coordinated, cross-functional practices
- Integrated: compliance woven into systems with real-time automation and predictive insights
The model doesn’t push organizations toward the highest stage. Instead, it helps leaders understand what their current stage can and can’t support and what investments make sense for their next phase of growth.
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The AI compliance reality check
What makes this guide particularly timely is its extensive section on AI governance, featuring commentary from Taylor Stockton, chief innovation officer at the U.S. Department of Labor.
Stockton’s perspective frames compliance not as a brake on innovation but as infrastructure that enables it. “The right compliance and governance can be critical in developing trust, such that all stakeholders see the opportunities that AI brings and can run even more effectively towards them together,” as quoted in the guide.
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Responsible AI outcomes
One of the most timely concerns for HR leaders is how to properly introduce artificial intelligence into the enterprise environment. Stockton’s advice to organizations is to establish AI-driven outcomes against previous human-driven decisions to understand what’s actually improving and where problems remain.
The guide translates this into touchpoint questions:
- Have AI models been audited for bias?
- Are decisions explainable?
- Do employees know when AI is involved at work?
- Can managers override recommendations?
- Is the organization keeping logs?
Perhaps the guide’s most valuable contribution is simply naming the problem. HR compliance, particularly in terms of technology, has become too complex for most organizations to navigate alone. The full guide is available here.
