Dentons | Katharine Harle | Michelle Lamb | Sarah Partridge-Smith
When planning how to approach whistleblowing systems and controls, our views on the most important things to consider are as follows:
- Are you obligated to have a framework in place? Is your firm at risk of being found in breach of mandatory requirements either in the UK or Europe?
- Are your employees able to effectively raise concerns? Is there a risk that, without a speak up policy, your employees are not raising concerns that may be affecting your business (such as fraud or theft) or your reputation or legal risk (if employees have to make reports to external prescribed persons where no internal mechanism exists), or failing to adhere to workplace standards that may affect the safety of your employees (including harassment, bullying or assault).
- Does your framework allow for confidential or anonymous reporting? Anonymous reporting will often require an external whistleblowing service provider, whereas confidential reporting may be to an internally-appointed person. Firms should consider which is more appropriate – this may depend on the size of the firm, the relevant expertise in triaging and responding to protected disclosures, and the culture of the firm (whether your employees are more or less likely to report if their identity is not anonymised).
- Who will conduct your investigations? Do you have in-house expertise, or should you outsource your investigations to a third party? This may vary depending on the seriousness of the complaint, the person who is the subject of the complaint, and the scope of the disclosure.
- How will you protect the whistleblower? What steps will you take to preserve the confidentiality/anonymity of the reporter? What will you do to ensure that they do not suffer detriment as a result of the disclosure?
This article first appeared on Lexology. You can find the original version here.
