JEUDI 30 DÉCEMBRE 2021 BIZWEEK ÉDITION 375 Since the EU Whistleblowing Directive was adopted in December 2019, the protection of whistleblowers has become considerably more important. EU members only had until 17 December 2021 to transpose EU requirements into national laws. Subsequently, companies with more than 250 employees will be required to establish reporting channels for internal and, optionally, external stakeholders. From 2023, the scheme will be extended to companies with more than 50 employees. However, protecting whistleblowers is much more than a regulatory obligation for companies ; it must be the aspiration of an ethical and sustainable corporate culture. Those who allow transparent communication in the company create trust internally and externally. It is already evident that companies that have established whistle blower reporting channels are able to identify risks at an early stage and thus avoid sanctions, fines and reputational damage. This year, the 2021 Whistleblowing Report (conducted as part of an applied research and development project of the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (FHGR) in cooperation with EQS Group) examines how large and small companies use whistleblowing channels to prevent and uncover misconduct, what financial damage could be avoided as a result, and how relevant the reports made are. The risk of falling victim to illegal and unethical behaviour is real for European companies. Information from employees and other stakeholders is of great importance in order to prevent misconduct or to identify it at an early stage. The majority of the companies surveyed are aware of this and have already setup an internal whistleblowing system outside the chain of command. Nevertheless, many companies are unsure how to setup and design such a system in a targeted manner. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic and the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive present new tasks and challenges for corporate whistleblowing systems. The analyses are based on data from an online survey in which a total of 1,239 companies took part, of which 291 were from Germany, 338 from France, 296 from the United Kingdom and 314 from Switzerland. Around one third of the sample is madeup of smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with 20 to 249 employees and the remaining two thirds is madeup of large companies with 250 or more employees. Sampling allows the results to be generalised to the two firmsize classes. Abuses occurred in a good third of the companies surveyed Illegal or unethical behaviour that violates applicable (legal) regulations or violates society‘s notions of ethics occurs in about one-in-three of the companies surveyed. The study shows that large companies and organisations operating abroad are more frequently affected by misconduct. Moreover, the statistical analyses show that although companies in Switzerland are less frequently affected by misconduct than companies in other countries, the proportion of financial damages of EUR 100,000 or more is highest there. A good LA TOUR WHISTLEBLOWING REPORT 2021 Protecting whistleblowers is much more than a regulatory obligation for companies The Whistleblowing Report 2021 highlights the indispensable contribution whistle blowers make towards detecting and preventing corporate wrongdoing. It’s hardly a surprise that more and more companies are introducing whistleblowing systems. Most of the companies surveyed are doing a lot of things right : they offer a variety of (anonymous) reporting channels, independent advice, confidentiality with management and protection against reprisals. In fact, potential whistleblowers only use whistleblowing systems if they feel they can trust the contact persons involved and effect change. Above all, this requires a whistleblower-friendly corporate culture characterised by the ability to accept criticism and make mistakes. The Whistleblower Network therefore advises companies to provide regular training for their employees. If whistleblowing is sensibly integrated into the corporate culture and structure, whistleblowers will not turn to external (government) agencies in the vast majority of cases. It is promising that a large majority of the corporate executives surveyed support a right to public whistleblowing to the media in cases of significant government interest. Without courageous whistleblowers, society would often not learnof white-collar crime, as in the cases of CumEx and Wirecard, of structural deficits of state control bodies and of dangers to health, the environment and human rights. This report represents a valuable contribution to the debate on this socially significant but still sparsely researched topic half of the companies surveyed informtheir employees about the consequences of discovered misconduct. By contrast, the public is rarely informed. More than 60 percent of the companies surveyed have a whistleblowing system The companies surveyed use various instruments to prevent and detect illegal or unethical behaviour at an early stage. Across all countries, more than 60 percent of the companies surveyed have an office/channel outside the chain of command where whistleblowers can report specific or suspected misconduct. While a large proportion of large companies have setup a whistleblowing system, the proportion of SMEs with a whistleblowing system (still) tends to be lower, although it should be noted that UK SMEs have now largely closed ranks with UK large companies. It is also apparent that companies from the financial sector, in comparison to other sectors, as wellas companies active abroad, are more likely to have a whistleblowing system. The vast majority of companies with a whistleblowing system are convinced of how useful and effective it is The companies interviewed had various reasons for settingup a whistleblowing system. The top three reasons for introducing a whistleblowing system are that companies are convinced of the benefits and effectiveness while it should help to strengthen the company‘s image as an ethical organisation with integrity. Furthermore, companies see the opportunity to improve themselves through the incoming reports. 4 Cont’d on page 5 |
