Ethical whistle-blowing
What you can do when you found something wrongdoing in your company ❓
🤔I need to do something. 💡 whistle-blowing.
Simply whistleblowing is the term used when a person passes on information on wrongdoing such as corruption. It also referred to as “blowing the whistle” or “making a disclosure”.
A person associated with an organization(maybe an employee, supplier, or customer) becomes a whistle blower when they observe behavior or actions that they believe to be misconduct, illegal and not in line with the company’s code of conduct and report that suspicion as a whistleblowing matter.
Types of Whistleblowing
- Internal whistleblowing: is made to someone within the organization
- Personal whistleblowing: is blowing the whistle on the offender. Here the charge is not against the organization or system but one individual.
- External whistleblowing: for an external issue not directly affecting one as an individual.
When to Blow the whistle 🤔 ❓
- Knowledge of inappropriateness. Ex: making pro-priority software available to the public, booby-trap in code, misuse of funds, etc.
- Bad claims. Ex: Unrealistic date projection, Advertising hype.
- Knowledge of impending doom
Elements of Ethical Whistle blowing 🎲
- Ensure the Anonymity of the whistle blower : Potential whistle-blowers need to be assured there will be no workplace repercussions, including informal ones, and anonymity is the surest way to achieve that.
- Make reporting easy : This may be something like a hotline or helpline with a toll free number that is prominently included in the workers’ orientation and routine communications with the organization.
- Establish consistent protocols across all departments : Every unit in the organization should be on the same page regarding fraud reporting. It is useful to have a single manager who is identified as a fraud prevention leader.
- Be prepared to act when fraud is detected : If you determine that it is likely that fraud occurred you should have a plan for responding that includes who should receive the report and what steps they take to determine a response.
- Report to authorities appropriately : Legal authorities should be involved when appropriate and in a consistent way dictated by policy guidelines.
- Set up recording and tracking processes : Each reported fraud should trigger a case file or incident report that collects relevant objective information and retains it in the system. Progress of each case from report to resolution should be included in the records.
Steps for Whistle-Blowing 🚪
- Hire a powerful attorneys: Hire a skilled lawyer with experience in handling whistle blower claims can advice legally to gather evidence against the employer and protect professional reputation.
- Make sure you have evidence : The government will not pay you a reward for bringing them questionable gossip of misdeeds, but rather specific proof, such as emails, internal studies, billing records, test results, names, contact information of involved parties, and other forms of documentary evidence.
- File a complaint : Whistleblowers must file a complaint in court and submit it to the federal government with a Disclosure Statement that details the suspected misconduct.
- Play the waiting game : If the government should decide to proceed forward with your case, it is important to be patient.
- Prepare to be “outed” : You have to prepare yourself to be “outed” and the consequences that it may bring. It’s recommended to search for a new job as soon as possible after filing a whistle blower claim.
6. Be prepared to testify: If the government decides to take action against your employer based on the results of its investigation, you may be asked to testify at a grand jury proceeding or during trial. You must be prepared to reveal your identity, since your testimony may have a considerable impact on the outcome of the case.
At last, we have to improve and encourage whistleblowing within an organization by protecting them. Therefore, companies should give strong support to them by continuously monitor the whistleblower’s welfare, encourage the whistleblower to report any retaliation against him or her as well as ensure their job security.
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