Ethical culture is on the increase and the whistleblowing phenomenon is not going away. The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently released its annual report, which had some eye-opening statistics and facts for companies. Chief among those was the fact that, of the whistleblowers that came forward to report fraud to the SEC, over 80% had reported the matter internally first.
With ethical culture on the increase, employees want to report irregularities internally and companies should encourage this. With the right procedures and protections in place, many employees will indeed be more apt to report internally first. Do not miss this opportunity, be prepared, have a whistleblowing facility in place that can properly handle that internal report – the correct handling of these reports will encourage further internal reports.
This means companies must demonstrate that employees who report are safe from retaliation and that appropriate investigations are conducted, while at the same time keeping the employee or whistleblower appropriately aware of what the company is doing so that they know that their concerns are being addressed and appropriate corrective action is being taken. It could potentially save your company tremendous detrimental exposure.
Whistle Blowers (Pty) Ltd is an industry leader in information gathering and the protection of whistleblowers, allowing for the whistleblower to feel secure in the knowledge that every measure is taken to protect their anonymity. Whistle Blowers (Pty) Ltd facilitates the flow of information between a whistleblower and our client, securing vital intelligence for investigations and relaying feedback regarding the progress of the issue reported.
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