Human Powered Helpline

It's a safe place where employees (or other stakeholders) can voice their concerns about their employer in a manner that maintains the employer's integrity, and the employees' safety.

A whistleblower hotline goes by many names:

• Fraud, waste and abuse helpline
• Intake helpline
• Reporting helpline
• Ethics helpline
• Compliance line
• Speak-up line

They encourage a speak-up culture: If there is wrongdoing happening inside the organization, there's at least one person who knows it's happening. Most employees prefer to report wrongdoing anonymously so allowing them to do so ensures the company becomes aware of wrongdoing sooner.

Know about misconduct sooner: Knowing about misconduct sooner enables organizations to put a stop to it earlier. The sooner you know about it, the less revenue loss and reputational damage.

Understand a deeper issue: Dig deeper to get to the root of an issue. This is the chance to take what is learned and apply it to existing policies, procedures and workplace practices making them even stronger.

Communication with the anonymous reporter: Helpline agents that are trained in empathetic communication and are able to customize the communication with each anonymous caller. This way the organization is able to obtain important information about a certain incident.

Avoid violations and legal battles: Many organizations that face regulatory violations didn't have a mechanism in place for employees to report misconduct. Regulators have been known to lessen penalties or drop them altogether if an organization has done its due diligence and taken appropriate steps to address and investigate issues.