WhistleB interviewed about the EU whistleblower protection law by Dagens Industri, Sweden’s largest daily business newspaper
WhistleB co-founder Gunilla Hadders was recently interviewed for an article in Dagens Industri regarding the final approval of the EU whistleblower protection law.
In summary, the article highlights our point of view that the new law is a necessary and positive step in fighting corruption and other breaches of EU law, while protecting employees who dare to raise the alarm. The law obliges all EU companies and organisations with more than 50 employees to provide internal channels for people to report their suspicions or concerns regarding unethical behaviour at work. We believe that companies have everything to gain from uncovering misconduct earlier and managing it internally, professionally and preventatively through effective whistleblowing systems.
The article also emphasises WhistleB’s opinion that companies would gain maximum value from upcoming investments in whistleblowing systems if they also allow anonymous reporting and if they encourage employees to report concerns related to harassment. These two areas are not included within the scope of the EU whistleblower protection law, but our experience with customers shows that they are important factors. See a previous blog post for more on this.
Finally, the Dagens Industri article links the EU whistleblower protection law to its own Sustainable Companies ranking, a survey that it conducts together with Aktuell Hållbarhet (a newspaper focused on sustainability matters) and Lund University’s School of Economics. This year’s ranking indicates a rapid increase in the awareness of the importance of whistleblowing systems. In official reports, 78% of companies highlighted their organisational whistleblowing systems compared to 62% in last year’s survey.
Susanne Arvidsson, Associate professor at Lund University’s School of Economics is quoted as saying that effective anti-corruption efforts reduce the risk of corruption and minimise the damages from corruption-related scandals.
For more information about the EU whistleblower protection law, contact us if you have any questions on whistleblowing systems.
Contact:
Gunilla Hadders, Founder and Partner at WhistleB, Whistleblowing Centre
Tel. +46 (0)70 214 88 73, Email gunilla.hadders@whistleb.com
