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'It is important that potential whistle-blowers have a clear view of not only the avenues available for speaking up, but also the full path ahead of them as they go through the whistleblowing journey. Simply put, people will only speak up if they believe action will be taken,' says Jo Iwasaki, ACCA’s head of corporate governance.
'Making responses visible makes a great difference. This will help to increase trust in the effectiveness of the speak-up arrangements and the leadership that support them. It separates trusted organisations from those where employees feel that speaking up is futile and risky.'
According to Jo Iwasaki, increased transparency can be an effective way of minimising the reputational damage that can go hand in hand with potential malpractice.
'If your employees feel that wrongdoing will be dealt with promptly and fairly, they are far less likely to make the issue a public one. Many of the great reputational disasters of recent years have been made worse by attempts to sweep the issue under the carpet. A far better approach is to develop and implement robust and consistent response systems with clear and coordinated follow-up activities.'
Making the tough decision to bring in outside help should also be considered says Iwasaki.
'It is worth considering the use of an external independent channel that sits alongside your internal conduits. It may feel counter-intuitive to set up channels that are external and possibly more formal when you are trying to build trust internally. However, if people use independent external channels and have a positive experience, the trust developed from the experience can transfer to other, including internal, channels that they may use in the future.' [...]