HR teams advised to promote whistleblowing  

A survey of HR managers and directors from 222 companies, conducted by Safecall, showed that more than half (57%) of respondents say their employees are actively encouraged to speak up about wrongdoing, while 36% stated employees are “aware” they can report wrongdoing.

For the majority of respondents, whistleblowing training was not mandatory in their workplace. The survey showed that more than 61% of organisations undertake no promotion and education on whistleblowing within the workforce.

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The figures showed that 83% have a whistleblowing policy in place, while 17% don’t/

While there is no legal requirement for an organisation to have a whistleblowing policy, under the Corporate Governance Code, if a listed company doesn’t have one, senior management must be able to explain why they don’t have one.

The survey found that 80% of HR managers are aware of the EU Whistleblowing Directive, but 20% were not aware, suggesting that nearly two years of awareness activity is working.

However, Joanna Lewis, Managing Director at Safecall, says employers need to go further.

“Awareness and adoption of whistleblowing processes and policies seem fairly high, which is great to see," she said. "However, it’s when you start delving into the mechanics and trust of such processes that we see some worrying trends

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“There are organisations that have put whistleblowing reporting systems in place but are not bought into actively encouraging reports. A minority of organisations – even if they do have whistleblowing reporting channels in place – see whistleblowing as a tick-box exercise with no benefits to the revenue, morale or profit of the organisation.”

 “One of the hardest things any employee can do is to become a whistleblower – only a relatively small proportion will ever do so. Any hint that an employee will suffer reprisals if they report wrongdoing will actively reduce the possibility of uncovering problems in an organisation.

“These survey findings highlight a real opportunity for companies and organisations to review their whistleblowing processes, promote better to their employees and ensure there are robust independent whistleblower hotlines and reporting procedures.”

A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in 2020 found that 85% of whistleblowers suffered from anxiety, depression and PTSD.

Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, whistleblowers are protected from retaliation by their employer. However recent research from Queen’s University in Belfast found 67% of whistleblowers experienced a drop in income post-disclosure.