Whistleblowing: What it is and how it relates to a culture of ethics

What is Whistleblowing?

Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is when a person, often an employee, reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. When a whistleblower comes forward, a thorough investigation is required to understand the situation. Whistleblower-protection acts have been created in some jurisdictions to help protect whistleblowers who come forward from retribution. While whistleblowing can arise from ethical concerns and a desire to do the right thing, in some scenarios it can be motivated by retribution, self protection or the potential for promotion.

Key Takeaways

• Whistleblowers can be motivated by ethics, retribution, self-preservation and more

• Some jurisdictions have adopted legislation to help protect whistleblowers

• Whistleblower hotlines are one way that companies can help protect themselves and to detect risks while being legally compliant 

• Cultivating a culture of ethics can help develop a company-wide focus on transparency

Whistleblowing and Corporate Culture: Cultivating a Culture of Ethics

Creating a corporate culture based on transparency and ethical behavior can help to encourage your employees to report any unethical behavior that they may uncover. Promoting a culture of ethics can also help change the perspective that whistleblowing may be seen as a betrayal, and instead restructure it into an important action to maintain company standards. Creating a culture of ethics also makes certain that misconduct does not become normalized and helps ensure open communication channels and employee protections.

How Whistleblowing Can Incite Organizational Change

Whistleblowing can serve as a wakeup call to companies that an organizational shift or organizational change is needed. After a case is reported, how a company reacts to and recovers from potential missteps can be important in how the company operates moving forward. As mentioned above, cultivating a culture of ethics can prove helpful when it comes to company culture and putting a focus on transparency. Going deeper into company processes, business continuity planning and risk mitigation are also considerations that the company should evaluate when it comes to how the company will both prevent and potentially react to future scenarios related to whistleblowing.

Reporting Internally: Whistleblower Hotlines

To help protect themselves legally, some companies have established whistleblower hotlines. Whistleblower hotlines are service or program that allows whistleblowers to submit cases either with their personal details or anonymously. Having a whistleblower hotline can help protect the company by detecting risks early on while also complying with legal standards. Being able to catch and screen potential risks early on ensures that smaller risks don’t grow larger. In this way a whistleblower hotline can be a form of risk mitigation, and act as a diagnostic tool for potential risks that the company may not yet be aware of. 

Conclusion

Whistleblowing is an important action that helps bring illegal or fraudulent activities to light. Whistleblower acts have been created to help protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Companies can encourage a culture of ethics to help ensure that company standards put a focus on transparency and ethical behavior, and can help prevent misconduct from becoming normalized. Companies can also create whistleblower hotlines as a way to help protect themselves legally and to allow whistleblowers to come forward internally.