Global Ethics Hotline

A good business practice is to take steps to minimize the risk of fraud and workplace misconduct. Whistleblower reporting tools provide a smart way for employees to let management know about unethical behaviour and misconduct in the workplace. These tools provide management and stakeholders with an opportunity to create better business practices, provide more intuitive policies and procedures, and more importantly to most, they help drive inclusive and speak-up cultures.

Aside from the human aspect of creating a safe and inclusive space, whistleblower hotlines offer organizations a tool to help prevent unethical or illegal practices that if left unchecked, could have devastating results.

Many employees don’t have any tolerance for being silenced. In fact, they have no problem speaking up when they see something wrong. However, if they don’t feel safe to speak-up internally, they may take their concerns externally to outside parties like the media. One risk of keeping a whistleblower hotline in-house is that if anyone does speak up, the reports may be improperly handled by management. An outsourced program will offer more transparency and a secure database that enables organizations to proactively identify and react to trends within their organization.

Yes, well constructed whistleblower hotlines are really anonymous, where allowed. In some countries employees bringing forth reports are not able to do so anonymously. Most third-party providers have built this process into the program to help guide the employee in their reporting process. But where anonymity is allowed, that same carefully built program will allow any reporting employee to remain strictly anonymous, partially anonymous, or completely transparent. As well, these systems should include statements ensuring the employee’s anonymity will be maintained in the event they choose not to share any contact information.

A third-party provider will provide a private and secure case management system where all reported concerns are kept. These databases are only accessible by designated company management personnel who are assigned to investigate reported concerns. Once an employee submits a whistleblower report, the information is provided to these authorized designates who will use the case management system to assess each complaint and decide what actions need to be taken. Typically when an employee calls into a third-party hotline, the questionnaire used to work through the complaint is the same one used when an employee chooses to file their concern using an on-line web form.