No business is immune from the possibility of things going wrong. Encouraging workers to speak up about suspicions they have can assist a business in tackling potential malpractice or wrongdoing promptly and mitigate consequential risks. Implementing and maintaining an effective whistleblowing policy and accompanying procedures is the key to achieving this.
Effective whistleblowing policies not only have commercial and reputational benefits, but can also help to reduce the risk of legal liability (assuming the procedures set out in the policy are properly implemented) by demonstrating that the business cares about dealing with wrongdoing effectively and has taken steps to prevent the victimisation of or retaliation against whistleblowers. Furthermore, effective policies may assist companies advancing defences for corporate offences such as bribery or facilitating tax evasion.
We set out below some key practical steps to take in implementing and maintaining effective whistleblowing policies and procedures.
Encourage a culture conducive to disclosure
Businesses should see their whistleblowing programme as an opportunity, not a threat. If a company’s management does not properly engage with or refuses to endorse whistleblowing, employees will lose trust and the whistleblowing programme will fail to achieve its purpose. Critically, this will increase the risk of disclosures to third parties such as the press or social media.
Practicalities
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