"The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen." Lee Iacocca
I’ve been worrying about whistleblowing lately. In particular, whether traditional methods of reporting are really effective – because the level of reporting in many organisations just seems low. And I’m not sure that this is a situation where ‘least said is soonest mended’, as the saying goes. If there’s misconduct occurring the compliance team needs to know, and fast.
For food retailers, manufacturers and service organisations employees are on the front-line in spotting issues relating to food safety and, of course, it’s in the best interests of any company to be aware of these issues as they occur. But, this requires an effective system for enabling issues to be reported, in confidence and without fear of retaliation.
The cost of non-compliance, in both financial and reputational terms, is now so high that many organisations are turning to external law firms to help manage compliance and ethics risk. In particular, companies are increasingly looking for support and advice around screening, managing and investigating cases that come to light through their whistleblowing systems. And it’s easy to see why.
When was the last time you thought about changing your whistleblowing hotline provider?