What Is A Whistleblowing Hotline?

• Published date: 23 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Whistleblowing
• Law Firm: Safecall
• Author: &nbsp Safecall

A whistleblowing hotline allows employees and other stakeholders of an organisation to raise a concern around an individuals' behaviour. Reports made via whistleblowing hotlines typically relate to professional misconduct. The types of behaviour reported via a whistleblowing hotline include;

• Bribery and Corruption
• Bullying and Harassment
• Discrimination and Racism
• Environmental Damage
• Fraud and Theft
• Health and Safety Breaches
• Data Protection Breaches
• Modern Slavery
• Product Contamination
• Substance Abuse

People that witness unacceptable behaviour are more likely to raise their concerns via a whistleblowing hotline for two primary reasons;

• They have confidence that their concern will be taken seriously
• They have confidence that they will not suffer retaliation as a result of their report

The primary benefit to an organisation of implementing a whistleblowing hotline is enhanced discovery of professional misconduct. This provides an opportunity to resolve the reported behaviour.

This benefit is significant. By allowing an organisation to discover poor behaviour early the organisations is able to address that behaviour and reduce the negative effect of that behaviour. This will;

• Prevent loss (cash or inventory)
• Improve morale
• Improved productivity
• Reduce employee attrition
• Protect the reputation of the organisation
• Healthier supplier relationships
• Healthier client relationships

A good quality Whistleblowing Hotline, Whistleblowing Policy and Whistleblowing Management System also demonstrate to stakeholders including employees, suppliers, customers and investors that your organisation is well run, with good governance arrangements and works hard to maintain standards of conduct. Indeed the United Nations Principals for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) suggests that the presence of a good quality whistleblowing hotline is an effective bell-weather for the governance arrangements of the organisation.

An independent Whistleblowing Hotline is the cornerstone of effective whistleblowing arrangements within an organisation, but alone it is not enough. There are five elements to a truly effective whistleblowing management system;

Service Promotion

In order to be effective the whistleblowing hotline and whistleblowing policy must be promoted within the organisation. This can be done both digitally, for example on a company intranet, or physically, for example with posters and cards.

Intake

The is where a good quality whistleblowing hotline can make all the...