UK companies are neglecting vital safeguards that could prevent the same illegal or unethical business behaviour that has plunged corporate America into crisis, according to The Work Foundation. Its latest survey finds that many employers here are failing to provide adequate internal ‘whistleblowing’ channels for their employees to raise concerns about bad behaviour – such as fraud or other financial malpractice – at work.
A survey of 281 organisations suggests that even among organisations with whistleblowing policies, many are suspicious of employees contacting prescribed external regulators with their concerns – although this is expressly protected by the law and encouraged by statutory
bodies, such as the Financial Services Authority.
The research found that:
– Almost half of organisations (48%) surveyed had not
introduced formal whistleblowing policies, three years after the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
– Only one-in-three (32%) private sector firms have introduced formal whistleblowing policies, compared to three-quarters (75%) of organisations in the public or voluntary sectors.
– Although over two-thirds of organisations with policies said that their policy described a way for the raising of concerns outside of the organisation, specific mentions of regulatory bodies was low – with 29% of public sector organisations and a mere 4% of private sector organisations
mentioning them in their policies.
In the survey, most organisations – whether public or private – preferred their concerns to be raised internally to designated Human Resources (62%) or senior management (61%). Just under one in four policies (24%) encouraged
whistleblowers to raise their concerns with unions or staff representatives. Those that did were almost entirely in the public sector. Almost every policy (92%) offers the whistleblower an assurance of confidentiality.If you want further information on whistleblowing, corporate responsibility and the individual’s rights, the DTI have a useful Guide to the Public Interest Disclosure Act. You can also consult Public Concern at Work.
