If you have decided to set up an internal whistleblowing system (or whistleblower hotline) for your organisation, you may be wondering how to find the right whistleblower hotline provider that can provide the best solution for you.
It is likely that you have already shortlisted several companies that provide you with the whistleblowing service you are looking for. In addition, you will want to make the right choice, first-time round. Therefore, it is important that you understand what to think about before you look into any sales presentations and demos.
This short guide will help you to choose the right whistleblower hotline provider for your organisation.
In short, no. As they say, the devil is in the detail. It is important to note, even at high levels, there can be significant differences in whistleblowing systems.
There can be varying standards, security measures and data privacy differences.
Vendors can offer a range of reporting options, whilst others may offer just one or two.
Having a particular whistleblower hotline provider in mind is a good start, but you should aim to speak with more than one vendor. This will not only increase the chances of acquiring the appropriate reporting solution, but also expose you to different viewpoints, enabling you to become an ‘informed’ buyer.
Have you decided on the features you deem important in a whistleblower hotline? If so, it is time to start reaching out to the market and shortlisting appropriate whistleblower hotline providers. This can be done though some of the following.
Peer recommendations
Speak to people who have recently made the purchase of a whistleblower hotline.
Confer with former colleagues/managers who may have contracted a whistleblower hotline provider that they can recommend.
By doing so, you will very quickly receive the names of popular and reputable whistleblower hotline providers available to you.
Professional and industry events can help make connections – it is very likely that someone else has had the same issue when they looked for a whistleblower hotline provider.
Ask the people you meet whether their whistleblowing hotline provider met their needs or to be introduced to someone in the company who has dealt with such matters.
Use the correct key terms when searching, so if you are looking purely for an outsourced whistleblowing service use terms such as:
‘Whistleblowing hotline’, ‘ethics line’, ‘compliance line’ or ‘speak up’ coupled with ‘provider’, ‘service’, ‘solution’ or ‘software’.
If you are looking for a whistleblower hotline provider that offers a software element as well use the above terms coupled with terms such as:
‘Incident management’, ‘Case management’ or ‘solution’
Services that are labelled as ‘helplines’ or ‘advice lines’ imply that legally qualified advice is available to reporters. Clarify this to avoid confusion.
Having found a list of potential whistleblower hotline providers, you’ll need to look closer at the specific services on offer and what differences they have. The fastest way to do this is to visit their website service pages.
What is the difference?
Very broadly speaking, all ‘whistleblowing hotlines’, ‘speak up hotlines’ and ‘ethics helplines’ have the same purpose which is to facilitate the sharing of sensitive disclosures between individuals and employees.
The need is there to delve deeper as there are important differences that will dictate the success of your programme. These are things such as:
Ask about reporting channels that are provided by each whistleblower hotline provider and how they are administered.
Discover whether their intake channel will be dedicated to just your organisation or shared (e.g., one phone number shared between all customers etc).
Shared channels pose data privacy risks and require deeper investigation!
Look for clues on how the provider approaches reporting processes and if that matches your requirements.
For instance, you would prioritise whistleblower service providers with a range of reporting options if you wanted to reassure and give your employees confidence.
Look for how each provider differs in how the reports are captured, processed and relayed back to organisations.
Some providers do allow you to tailor parts of the process whilst others follow a rigid procedure.
Recognised certifications provide reassurance about a whistleblowing hotline provider; however, caution should be taken on what it relates to. Does it relate to:
The company, a process, or a piece of software that meets the standard?
Make sure to find out how and where your data will be processed and stored and that it complies with laws and regulations that you are subject to such as GDPR.
The technology behind reporting process and incident management software services will differ between each whistleblower hotline provider.
Enquire if the technology offers the key features you require, appropriate security controls and ease of use.
In addition to a whistleblower hotline provider giving a whistleblowing service there is also a provision for complementary services such as:
Online employee training, case management software, policy and procedure management.
This can be very useful in the middle to long term if your whistleblower hotline programme is the first step in the development of a comprehensive risk and compliance programme.
At NAVEX, we believe that customer service is at the centre of every great company. Our goal to provide the WhistleB hotline solution is to offer an online whistleblowing system with industry-leading security that is affordable and simple to use.
Our commitment is to assure that your interests, as an employer, are protected whilst supporting your employees. We believe WhistleB, by NAVEX, achieves this by providing a professional, flexible, and impartial external whistleblowing service that will meet the changing requirements of your organisation.
NAVEX’S whistleblower hotline and reporting services are trusted by over 10,000 organisations worldwide.