How to encourage your employees to follow the whistle-blower policy ?

Any whistle blower faces

a) A period of extreme uncertainty and unpleasantness, combined with

b) the risk of threats or physical violence against themselves and their family, followed by

c) losing their job, followed by

d) becoming totally unemployable

If you want to encourage whistle blowing, it's not enough to have a clear procedure and a policy of anonymity and protection.   The promises of protection MUST be made explicitly by the Board of Directors AND the senior management AND the HR department together.  In addition, you must provide clear evidence of how the protection will work.

Remember that in a company everybody knows everybody, so anonymity can be very difficult to provide. 

Having done all that, you then have to have a system to ensure that digruntled employees do not use it cause problems for managers they dislike.

In other words, it's a very difficult problem.

Whistleblowing often gets a bad rap, but it isn't always about taking people or companies down. Here are five ways to encourage the practice for more aware leadership in your organisation.

Following points would give you an idea how to  encouraging whistleblowers in your organization:

1. PRACTICE AN OPEN-DOOR POLICY

People are often afraid to discuss problems with their boss, or sometimes even talk to them at all. You can alleviate this by showing your employees that you adhere to a true open-door policy.

No matter how busy you are, always greet employees and find time to meet with them on a regular basis. Foster an environment where a level of healthy discourse is welcomed with open arms.

2. PROVIDE AN ANONYMOUS SUGGESTION BOX

Some problems need to be addressed anonymously. People simply don't feel comfortable breaking ranks to bring up issues they feel involve possible illegal or immoral acts they witness at work. Some entry-level employees will only mention a problem once and assume if it were important, someone above them would do something.

Snitching on other employees may be seen as sinister, and your people may be embarrassed to speak up. Ensure you have a form, inbox, or number they can contact for anonymous tips. The police have prevented and solved a lot of crimes with this way; your business could flourish from anonymous tips as well.

3. WALK YOUR TALK

Make sure you lead the way you want to be followed. If you take shortcuts, your employees will notice. The work environment you build isn't just what you say; it's also what you do.

Just like a child knows the difference between what their parents say and do, your employees know the same about you as well. If you rip off your customers or don't stand behind your products and services, why would your employees?

4. TAKE THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Don't just ignore bad feedback or brush it off because you're doing well. You may be making money right now, but one day you may not be.

Negative feedback was all it took to land Donald Sterling in hot water after Vivian Stiviano blew the whistle on him. If the NBA ignored this negative feedback, they'd lose fans, sponsors, and, ultimately, money.

There are SEO services that can help you hide negative feedback online, but it's expensive, and the more negative actions your company takes, the costlier your PR gets.

Listen to negative feedback wherever you get it, especially internally.

5. SHOW YOU'RE LISTENING

People stop going to church when they feel God isn't listening. They stop voting when their government isn't listening. If you don't give proof you're listening to your customers and employees, they'll stop talking and eventually abandon you.

Implement small improvements—make the effort to show you value input and implement suggestions. Reward your people for speaking up, even if it's not what you wanted to hear. Every step you take counts, so move in the right direction.

Treat everyone in business, whether it’s your boss, partner, employees, or customers, with respect, and they'll do the same for you, building a solid brand in the process.

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then we can explain to them the benefit if they follow our co. policy

Thanks for very pertinent questions. Thanks to Mr Duncun Robertson for raising the whistle blower policy concern.

 Why the staff has to blow the whistle? If something is going wrong, the top Management, HR, concerned supervisor know it very well and all should work together to resolve the issue.

 The problem of whistle blower policy is that it always be known that who has blown the whistle and he/she will be victimized in the short run or in long run.

The whistle blower policy itself has its inherent weakness that the top management is unaware what is going wrong. Again, whistle blower policy does not work well in all cultural settings.

 In spite of what has been said as above, the whistle blower policy is necessary so that the aggrieved employee has at least one channel to bring up issue to the top Management what is going wrong. But, this person must be protected in any circumstances and his identity has to be kept secret 

Steps for Creating a Whistleblowing Culture

A policy about reporting illegal or unethical practices should include

• Formal mechanisms for reporting violations, such as hotlines and mailboxes
• Clear communications about the process of voicing concerns, such as a specific chain of command, or the identification of a specific person in the organization, such as an ombudsman or a human resources professional
• Clear communications about bans on retaliation

  In addition, a clear connection should exist between an organization's code of ethics and performance measures. For example, in the performance review process, employees can be held accountable not only for meeting their goals and objectives but also for doing so in accordance with the stated values or business standards of the company.

  Get Endorsement From Top Management

  Top management, starting with the CEO, should demonstrate a strong commitment to encouraging whistleblowing. This message must be communicated by line managers at all levels, who are trained continuously in creating an open-door policy regarding employee complaints.

  Publicize the Organization's Commitment

  To create a culture of openness and honesty, it is important that employees hear about the policy regularly. Top management should make every effort to talk about the commitment to ethical behavior in memos, newsletters, and speeches to company personnel. Publicly acknowledging and rewarding employees who pinpoint ethical issues is one way to send the message that management is serious about addressing issues before they become endemic.

  Investigate and Follow Up

  Managers should be required to investigate all allegations promptly and thoroughly, and report the origins and the results of the investigation to a higher authority. For example, at IBM, a long-standing open-door policy requires that any complaint received must be investigated within a certain number of hours. Inaction is the best way to create cynicism about the seriousness of an organization's ethics policy.

  Assess the Organization's Internal Whistleblowing System

  Find out employees' opinions about the organization's culture vis-à-vis its commitment to ethics and values. For example, Sears conducts an annual employee survey related to ethics. Some questions are: Do you believe unethical issues are tolerated here? Do you know how to report an ethical issue?

To encourage/popularize ‘Whistle Blower’ Policy, "Designated Officers" for the submission of Whistle Blower information should be named in the Policy itself.