Detection / whistleblowing work

While the first prize is for employees to come and speak to you directly, we do know that employees are frequently afraid of retaliation, and one therefore needs to have ways for them to make anonymous reports. Many organisations have therefore established ‘whistleblowing hotlines’ through external service providers. Those organisations who have not established their own hotlines can promote the use of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (0800 701 701) which is run by the Public Service Commission.

It is important to note that the work of running/managing the hotline is very often conducted by other organisational role-players, and not the ethics office. There are, however, some organisations where the ethics office is responsible, and we therefore provide this guidance.

This section should be useful for anyone responsible for running the hotline.

Keep in mind that whistleblowing is defined by the Protected Disclosures Act. Your whistleblowing system and policy need to align with the requirements of this act. Have a look at that section of the guide for more information.

Managing the hotline

Managing the relationship with hotline service providers.

The ethics office may be the unit receiving reports from the external hotline and thus has the responsibility to ensure that the reports received have as much information as possible. Without sufficient information it will be very difficult for investigators to investigate cases.

You must therefore engage with the service provider to ensure that when they receive calls they ask as many probing questions as possible. They need to try and ascertain: What, Who, When, Where, How and Why – and also who else is aware of the allegations they are reporting. If, for example, the reporter is the only one aware, the investigation must be conducted sensitively so that their identity will not be uncovered by a process of elimination.

Educating employees

Employees need to be educated about:

• How to report (what are all the reporting channels available)
• What to report (e.g., distinguish between grievances and ethics reports)
• What information to give when they report (what, who, when, where, why and how)

The quality of reports received will tell you how well employees are trained on reporting. Remember, there might be reporting options such as email and SMS that do not allow for follow-up questions – so employees need to know what information to give.

You will also have to make sure that the whistleblowing process is trusted. Therefore, be transparent with employees about who will be investigating. Sometimes employees think that the external service providers are the ones responsible for the investigation. This is not the case. The external service provider is merely the reporting avenue. The case is then reported back to the organisation who will do the investigation. It needs to be very clear to employees that the investigation is done internally, although it is reported to an external party.

To retain confidence in the system it is crucial to have a solid process in place in terms of how the report will be handled when it comes into the organisation. For example, you may have a rule such as: whoever the accused is, the investigator needs to start the investigation by questioning the employee’s superior, which is two levels above them. So, it might not be the immediate superior but the one above that immediate supervisor. This kind of rule gives some assurance to the employees that the investigation process is not tainted and that the investigator will eventually speak to the accused on the allegations.

(It is good practice, if an EXCO member is reported, for the report to go to the independent chairperson of the Audit Committee. They will decide if the investigation should be done internally or independently.)

Allocating the whistleblower report

It is encouraged that the ethics function and the investigation function are separate.

The ethics officer needs to ensure that they go through the report as carefully as possible. The external service provider may not always know the nuances within your organisation, and it is therefore important that you read the reports very carefully to understand what the allegations are and how many allegations there are.

Once you have understood the allegations, the report then needs to be allocated to an investigator. As previously indicated, there should be a case management system where reports are uploaded, and only a limited number of people should have access to the system. The cases have to be regularly updated with the investigation progress. Remember to also update the external service providers so that the reporter can be updated if they call again.

Quality assurance of cases

Once the investigator has completed their investigation the ethics officer needs to go through the initial report as well as the investigation report to ensure that all the allegations have been addressed. For example, if there were five allegations, the ethics officer needs to ensure that all five of those elements were investigated and each outcome of the allegation is stated clearly. There may be a report of misuse of funds, abuse of company resources and fraud. Out of all the allegations it may be possible that only one has merit and this should be captured accordingly. Should there be gaps, the ethics officer needs to return the case to the investigator to address them. It is therefore important to maintain a good relationship with the investigations unit, as the manner in which they conduct their investigation either builds or breaks the credibility of the ethics office.

Trend analysis

It is important to conduct regular trend analysis on the following:

1. The turnaround time of investigations. It adds to the credibility of the office if cases are concluded within a short space of time, depending on their complexity. The ethics office also has to follow up if the case is taking too long and find out reason for delays and offer support.
2. The quality of the reports received. This will inform the awareness interventions that are required. If reports have a lot of missing information, it is important for the ethics officer to continue further awareness raising to show the difference between a good report and a vague report. Vague reports are often unfounded, not because they don’t have merit but because they lack important detail.
3. Types of cases reported and where they emanate from. For example, if reports are received repeatedly from one unit with bullying allegations that are founded, this indicates to the ethics office that there is a problem in that unit and an intervention is required. The intervention may not be solely by the ethics office. They can collaborate with HR or the responsible unit.
4. Number of reports received. Try and ascertain why there is an increase or a decline. For example, there may be an increase of reports of employees receiving gifts from external service providers and not declaring them between November and January, which indicates to the ethics office that awareness/ training intervention on gifts needs to be intensified from October. A decline in reports may indicate a lack of trust in the reporting system and the ethics office needs to try and ascertain the reason for the decline.
5. Comparative analysis of the trends and reports received. These highlight where the gaps and successes are. If there is no longer an increase of reports on gifts between November and January, this indicates that the interventions have been successful; however, there may now be an increase of abuse of company time during the festive season, and thus the interventions will have to address the ‘new’ gap. Comparative analysis gives the ethics office a sense of the trajectory of the culture in the organisation.
6. Outcomes of investigations. The organisation should know what percentage of cases are legitimate and are proven. This trend should be monitored over time.
7. Most used reporting channel. This gives an indication on the preferred channel, and the organisation may increase awareness of the various other channels available to employees.
8. Anonymous, confidential and ‘normal’ reporting. The decline in anonymous reporting indicates trust in the reporting system and investigation process. The ethics office needs to continuously explain the difference between the two and what measures employees need to take to protect their identity if reported anonymously.
9. Resolution of cases. It is extremely important not only to track cases up to investigation, but also past the resolution, which can include disciplinary processes and recovery of losses. It is important to ensure that the recommendations from the investigation and the outcomes of disciplinary processes are implemented.

These trends need to be reported to the various committees or management structures.

Compliance checklist