Introducing a whistleblowing policy.[check] This checklist is designed to help organisations to draw up a whistleblowing policy. In spite of the often ambivalent attitude held towards whistleblowers, there are practical reasons for treating whistleblowing as a policy issue: * Wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do will occur and there will be employees who will desire
to stop it.
* Legislation (Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998) protects employees who blow the whistle on activities that are against the public interest. * Whistleblowing is on the increase. * Retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and against the whistleblower whis·tle·blow·er or whis·tle-blow·er or whistle blower n. One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority: "The Pentagon's most famous whistleblower is . . is neither desirable nor effective. A whistleblowing policy lets employees know what is, or is not, acceptable behaviour and allows sensitive issues to be dealt with internally, thus encouraging the employee to report wrongdoing while protecting the organisation from unexpected public disclosures. It is not a substitute for other management practices, such as performance appraisals Performance appraisal, also known as employee appraisal, is a method by which the performance of an employee is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity, cost and time). and disciplinary and grievance procedures A term used in Labor Law to describe an orderly, established way of dealing with problems between employers and employees. Through the grievance procedure system, workers' complaints are usually communicated through their union to management for consideration by the employer. . Indeed, it is important that such interactions between manager and employee should be documented to enable the distinction to be made between proper and improper practice. The organisation should charge a senior manager with constructing and implementing the whistleblowing policy. This checklist is written to assist in that task. Definition Whistleblowing inside the workplace is the reporting, by employees or ex-employees, of wrongdoing such as fraud, malpractice malpractice, failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. , mismanagement mis·man·age tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es To manage badly or carelessly. mis·man age·ment n. , breach of health and safety law or any other illegal or
unethical unethicalsaid of conduct not conforming with professional ethics. act, either on the part of management or by fellow employees. Advantages of a good whistleblowing policy * Challenges wrongdoing thus preventing its debilitating de·bil·i·tat·ing adj. Causing a loss of strength or energy. Debilitating Weakening, or reducing the strength of. Mentioned in: Stress Reduction effect on an organisation and its reputation. * Demonstrates that the organisation is determined to be fair and honest. * Provides a mechanism for whistleblowers to voice their concerns without making them public. * Saves the costs and bad publicity associated with public disclosure and legal action. * Promotes accountability and deters bad practice. * Improves the quality of customer care, particularly in service organisations. Problems associated with a whistleblowing policy * Whistleblowers may fear retaliation even though the policy strictly proscribes it. * There will probably need to be a culture shift within the organisation. * A code of conduct is needed to define the ethical context in which the organisation should operate. * Employees may feel they are being spied spied v. Past tense and past participle of spy. on by co-workers. * A policy will not work if it is simply a piece of paper which is filed away and neither communicated nor acted upon. * Troublemakers may be encouraged to blow the whistle when there are no real issues at stake. Action checklist 1. Create an ethical, open culture Write, publish and communicate a code of conduct and ethics. Top management must make it clear that the organisation will not tolerate fraud and corruption and will deal with them seriously. The code should encourage employees who become aware of possible wrongdoings to report that information to designated parties inside the organisation, and assure them that their concerns will be treated seriously and that they will be protected. Apart from reinforcing an ethical environment, encourage an open and communicative com·mu·ni·ca·tive adj. 1. Inclined to communicate readily; talkative. 2. Of or relating to communication. com·mu culture where employees are not afraid to speak up. Provide guidelines, however, to assist staff in exercising their judgement, thus avoiding the reporting of all sorts of trivial matters. 2. Establish safe routes for communication of concerns Appoint individuals or groups outside the normal chain of command to receive complaints of irregularities or other concerns. These people should have appropriate seniority and be well respected. They need diplomatic skills and should enjoy a reputation of honesty, impartiality and fairness. Make sure employees know who they are and how they can be contacted in confidence. Remind staff of other safe channels if they do not have the confidence to raise the issue internally, such as Public Concern at Work (see useful addresses) or an external auditor The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . These channels can also be used if the business is too small to accommodate impartial, confidential routes internally. 3. Protect the whistleblower Make it clear you will support and not discriminate against concerned employees. Although they should identify themselves to the safe channel, otherwise give them anonymity where at all possible. The employee should be advised, however, that in many cases other people will know or guess who has raised the matter, in which case being open throughout may be more sensible. Protect them from reprisals REPRISALS, war. The forcibly taking a thing by one nation which belonged to another, in return or satisfaction for a injury committed by the latter on the former. Vatt. B., 2, ch. 18, s. 342; 1 Bl. Com. ch. 7. 2. by letting others know that harassment Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Nevada I recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. will be treated as a disciplinary matter. 4. Establish a fair and impartial investigative procedure Make sure you respond to the concern by focusing on the problem, rather than denigrating den·i·grate tr.v. den·i·grat·ed, den·i·grat·ing, den·i·grates 1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame. 2. the messenger. Take action to investigate and correct the problem or explain why management has chosen not to act if no action is warranted. Act quickly to reassure the whistleblower that action is being taken, to lessen the period of inevitable stress caused by the complaint, and to reduce the risk of retaliation against the employee. 5. Remind staff of their duty of confidentiality In common law jurisdictions, the duty of confidentiality obliges a solicitor to respect the confidentiality of his or her client's affairs. Information that a solicitor obtains about his or her clients' affairs may be confidential, and must not be used for the benefit of persons The duty of fidelity is implied by the law in every contract of employment and prohibits employees from publicly disclosing employers confidential information Noun 1. confidential information - an indication of potential opportunity; "he got a tip on the stock market"; "a good lead for a job" steer, tip, wind, hint, lead , unless it is in the public interest that information is disclosed. Remind staff that approaches for confidential advice to outside parties, such as lawyers, unions or other external safe channels is acceptable, but that the policy is designed to prevent any unnecessary public disclosure of concerns. 6. Safeguard against abuse of the policy Make it clear that the malicious raising of unfounded allegations is a disciplinary offence. Protect managers from disgruntled dis·grun·tle tr.v. dis·grun·tled, dis·grun·tling, dis·grun·tles To make discontented. [dis- + gruntle, to grumble (from Middle English gruntelen; see poor performers by documenting performance reviews, disciplinary action and dismissal procedures. Remember, however, that some genuine concerns will be misconceived mis·con·ceive tr.v. mis·con·ceived, mis·con·ceiv·ing, mis·con·ceives To interpret incorrectly; misunderstand. mis because an employee will never know all the facts. 7. Involve staff in developing the policy To be effective there should be a sense of organisational ownership of a whistleblowing policy. Discuss the issues at the beginning, explaining the reasons behind the policy and dealing with objections and worries. Circulate the draft policy to employees or make it available for comments and suggestions. When the policy is complete make sure it is communicated to all staff and reinforced by permanent reminders such as attractive posters. 8. Review the policy The project manager should: * talk to any employees who have had reason to invoke the whistleblowing procedure * find out if they were happy with the way their concerns were dealt with and if they experienced any harassment * run an employee attitude survey (see a related checklist) to find out if staff are comfortable with the nature of the corporate culture and if they think it supports the airing of concerns * ensure that the policy is not being used in preference to other pre-existing, complementary policies * remind staff of the policy annually. Dos and don'ts of a whistleblowing policy Do * Communicate high ethical standards. * Encourage an open culture. * Appoint people outside the normal hierarchy as recipients of employee concerns. * Document policies and practices to be used as support material when investigating whistleblowing cases. Don't * Use a whistleblowing policy as a sledgehammer See Opteron. to crack the nut of complaints and grievances Complaints and Grievances is an HBO stand-up comedy special of George Carlin that was originally titled I Like It When a Lot of People Die, but was renamed following the September 11, 2001 attacks. that can be dealt with through normal procedures. * Just publish a code of ethics--communicate it and reinforce it. * Allow recriminations against whistleblowers. Useful reading Books Whistleblowing at work, Incomes Data Services London: 2004 Whistleblowing best practice, Industrial Society London: 2002 Journal articles Whistleblowing and the law, Nigel Baker Company Secretarys Review: 30 Jun vol 28 no 5, 2004, pp33-34 Whistleblowing review, Caroline Carter and Jennifer Armstrong Jennifer Mary Armstrong (b. May 19, 1961) is a children's author who was formerly married to James Howard Kunstler. Books
How to create a policy for whistleblowing, Will Kenyon People Management: 20 Feb vol 9 no 4, 2003, pp56-57 Useful addresses Freedom to Care, PO Box 125 West Molesey, Surrey KT8 1YE Tel: 0208 224 1022 www.freedomtocare.org (a campaigning group). Public Concern at Work, Suite 306, 16 Baldwins Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ Tel: 020 7404 6609 www.pcaw.co.uk (a charity and legal advice centre). Thought starters * If you encounter an ethical conflict at work how do you deal with it? * Have you ever felt like blowing the whistle yourself? * Is there a spirit of trust in your organisation? * What procedures exist to prevent public disclosures of employee concerns? * How can you discriminate between justified and invalid whistleblowing? |
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