Will your employees blow the whistle? - encouraging employees to report unethical company activities - Ethics

Businesses are under increasing pressure from the government and the public to maintain higher ethical standards. Many are instituting whistle-blowing policies, as part of an overall ethics code, to provide employees with channels to report illegal, immoral or unethical activities. However, such policies will not encourage employees to disclose unethical practices if they don't know the policies exist.

A survey of top HR executives reveals that many organizations do not communicate their whistle-blowing policies effectively (See Survey Methodology.) Seventy-five percent of the respondents use the employee handbook to inform employees about the organization's whistle-blowing policy. Approximately 45 percent of the HR professionals surveyed rely on the employee handbook as the exclusive means of communicating the policy. (See Exhibit, page 78.)

Employee handbooks are usually given to employees when they are hired. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that new employees read the handbook; however, there is no guarantee that employees read and understand the whistle-blowing policy.

In approximately 31 percent of the organizations surveyed, immediate supervisors are expected to inform employees about the whistle-blowing policy. And, about 8 percent of these businesses use supervisor-employee communication as the exclusive method of communicating details of the policy to employees.

Still fewer companies, about 22 percent, use formal ethics training programs to communicate their whistle-blowing policy. Policy information is usually delivered with ethics training and discussion of the organization's ethical standards.

Communicating policy

The human resource department must take the lead in communicating the whistle-blowing policy to employees. Two basic questions about this responsibility are: What information about the policy should we communicate? How should we communicate this information?

What should we communicate?

HR should point out that the company is committed to improving the ethical work climate within the organization and that the whistle-blowing policy is an important component of the corporate culture. The employees should be encouraged to use the policy so they can voice concerns about sensitive issues.

Communication with employees should also emphasize how employees actually use the policy when confronted with possible wrongdoing. Employees should be aware of each step in the reporting process and they should be fully aware of alternative reporting channels--such as telephone hotlines, anonymous suggestion systems, ethics officers, etc.

Employees should understand the types of issues that the whistle-blowing policy is designed to address. And they should know the extent of their responsibility to verify their claims before using the policy. Any other specific information employees need to fully benefit from the policy must also be communicated.

Employees should understand the specific steps the organization will take to investigate claims. If employees do not believe that the company will take their concerns seriously, they will probably hesitate to use the process. A systematic investigative procedure is essential, and that procedure should be stressed in communication efforts with employees.

Survey Methodology

The 300 HR professionals surveyed were selected from the membership of the Society for Human Resource Management. The professionals had an average of 10.1 years with their organizations and an average of 5.7 years in their present position. Approximately 80 percent were the top HR executive in the company.

The respondents represented companies in all major industrial groups, including manufacturing (34.4 percent), service (27.5 percent) and financial (20.6 percent),with less representation from wholesale/retail trade, construction, agriculture, transportation/communication and mining. Ninety-five percent of the respondents represented companies with 500 or more employees; two-thirds were from nonunion companies.

Of the 300 respondents, 208 (70 percent) indicated they had implemented a policy that "provides employees a communication channel to disclose their knowledge of unethical, immoral and/or illegal activity." Executives who indicated that such a policy existed were asked various questions about the characteristics of the policy, including the methods of communicating the policy employees. Only two of the 208 companies reported that they make no such effort.

Fear of retaliation is a major reason many employees do not disclose wrongdoing. The whistle-blowing policy should provide protection for employees who make good-faith disclosures of perceived wrongdoing, and communication efforts with employees should explain the able protection.

How should we communicate?

Some companies use written media to communicate with employees about whistle-blowing policies, others use media, and others use a combination of the two. How should companies communicate with employees out whistle-blowing?

Written media have some distinct disadvantages. Written media do not provide immediate feedbaack, nonverbal information cues, and are relatively impersonal. It is difficult to successfully convey difficult, sensitive or ambiguous information when using only written media. Using written media exclusively will probably fail to achieve adequate attention and comprehension among employees.

Oral communication may be more effective. Face-to-face media allow immediate feedback, nonverbal information cues and a more personal focus. Oral communication has greater capacity to carry difficult, sensitive or ambiguous information.

This does not mean that face-to-face media are appropriate for all communication tasks. The key is to match the communication media with the message to be conveyed. Routine messages that are simple and straightforward can be successfully communicated through flyers, bulletins, memos and letters. But nonroutine messages require the additional information capacity that discussion provides. Those companies that rely exclusively on the employee handbooks (45 percent), or exclusively on other written media, will probably not achieve the necessary level of awareness and understanding among employees. This will hamper the effectiveness o the whistle-blowing policy.

HR should encourage discussions between supervisors and employees, but more importantly, it should develop interactive workshops and training programs concerning the whistle-blowing policy. By adding such programs to regular distribution of the ethics code and whistle-blowing policy through written media, HR will improve the awareness and understanding of the whistle-blowing policy throughout the organization.

Employee whistle blowing is a complex legal and ethical issue, and intense communication efforts will probably be required before employees understand and trust their company's whistle-blowing policy.

Communicating Your

Whistle-blowing Policy

1. Introduce the policy in the employee handbook. 2. Distribute an annual written communication that explains the purpose of the policy and the steps employees should take when they wish to disclose wrongdoing. 3. Use written and oral media to in- form employees. 4. Communicate with all employees. Do not communicate only to managerial or professional employees and expect them to discuss the policy fully with other employees. 5. Develop a training program or workshop. HR should have the primary responsibility for developing and conducting the program. The program should attempt to do the following: * Increase employees' awareness of ethical issues. * Discuss the importance of ethical behavior and individual responsibility for improving the ethical climate. * Explain the purpose of your whistle-blowing policy. * Provide employees with examples of types of activities that they should disclose. * Emphasize that employees should act responsibly when making allegation of wrongdoing. Explain that the whistle-blowing policy is not an outlet for vindictive or malicious charges of wrongdoing that have no basis in fact. * Discuss in detail the steps employees must take when using the policy--including anonymous disclosure. * Discuss the investigative procedure that the organization will follow. * Discuss how the organization will protect employees from retaliation for good-faith disclosures of wrongdoing. Also, explain the rights of those individuals or departments who may be implicated by charges of wrongdoing. * Emphasize that the whistle-blowing policy is a valuable part of your company's code of conduct. Explain that the policy is a concrete example of the organization's concern with improving its ethical climate.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group