Case Studies

Whistleblowing report

by Mark Rowe

The trend for UK employees to be increasingly comfortable using whistleblowing hotlines has been accelerated by last year’s Hollywood harassment scandals, a provider of such services suggests. New research showing a 20pc increase in calls according to Expolink‘s annual Whistleblowing Benchmarking Report. It’s analysed 8,281 reports filed by UK employees in 2017 (covering the hotlines for over 600 organisations). The number of new reports per 1,000 employees has jumped from 2.1 in 2016 to 2.5 in 2017 – that 20pc increase. People using such lines were most likely to ring – and speak to a human operator, rather than to voicemail. Reporting by email, web or app trailed.

John Wilson, Expolink’s Chief Executive, said: “The value of having a whistleblowing hotline is something leading employers have become increasingly aware of. In fact, hotlines have been widely regarded as part of good corporate governance and HR best practice for many years. For instance, the Financial Conduct Authority now requires the larger banks, insurers and investment firms it regulates to have whistleblowing procedures in place.

“The tsunami of public whistleblowing that was unleashed in the autumn following revelations in Hollywood, and then elsewhere, has emboldened Britain’s employees to increasingly report workplace problems, whether harassment or other issues. Our research shows a large increase of 20pc in the propensity of employees to ‘speak up’ in 2017 compared to the previous year. In recent years we have seen this rate slowly increase as employees have become gradually more comfortable with speaking out and using whistleblowing hotlines. This trend has leapt forward again since the autumn.

“The extensive publicity around Hollywood, and perhaps also some of the high profile corporate cases of poor ethics in 2017, has encouraged employees to examine their own organisations more objectively and speak out if they see unethical behaviour. I expect this trend to continue into 2018, not least because of the impact of continued revelations, such as the lurid President’s Club saga and the ongoing revelations about abuse and bullying in the charity and aid sector.

“Readily available speak-up channels, combined with a culture of listening to employee concerns, is often the best defence for organisations against festering problems that could eventually erupt as scandals. Having an early warning system in place allows those issues to be identified before they escalate – providing management is willing to listen, of course.”

He urged all organisations to revisit their own speak up policies and procedures and pose themselves two questions. “Firstly, are they making it as easy
and comfortable as possible for employees to speak up? Secondly, can those employees who are brave enough to speak up be confident their report will be met by a senior team that is ready to ‘listen up’?”

By type of issues reported, HR comes first: including duty of care, grievances with colleagues or managers, gross misconduct and unfair dismissal. Also reported are bullying, discrimination or harassment; malpractice in general, such as mis-selling; health and safety or security breaches; and theft or fraud including money laundering. Visit https://www.expolink.co.uk/resources/.

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