Did any of your employees alert you about any wrongdoings, corruption, or even fraud activities while working at your organization?
What was the next step you as a Human Resources (HR) professional had taken?
In this article, we discuss:
- About Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014
- How to encourage whistleblowing within the organization
First, let us know about the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014
The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 approved by the Cabinet of India and passed by the Lok Sabha on December 27, 2011, is now renamed as Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 by the second schedule of the Repealing and Amending Act, 2015.¹
The act was made into effect by the Parliament of India to establish a mechanism to receive complaints relating to disclosure on any allegation of corruption or wilful misuse of power or wilful misuse of discretion against any public servant and to inquire or cause an inquiry into such disclosure and to provide adequate safeguards against victimization of the person making such complaint and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto, as defined by the legislature.²
How to encourage Whistleblowing within the Organization?
Reach out to each of your employees and share the importance of whistleblowing in an organization
Often overlooked, it is important to educate employees about the latest updates of the whistleblowing protection act. This way, they rest assured about what is included in the act and confidently report wrongdoings happening in the company.
Allow employees to report within the HRMS system or via email
Many employees may not be comfortable reporting about wrongdoing in person, therefore introducing a whistleblowing policy within the human resource management software (HRMS) can allow them to report at their convenience and encourage them to express themselves freely.
Encourage whistleblowing in person too
Apart from allowing employees to report fraud and mischievous doings from within the HRMS technology, encouraging whistleblowing in person too can help you expedite the investigation and take required measures at the earliest. A whistleblowing issue not being addressed in time can lead to the resignation letter of the employee in concern, or even worse, force the employee to continue the job in the same stress and trauma experienced while working in the organization.
Assure job security when encouraging whistleblowing
A whistleblower is either considered a hero or a villain, depending on the issue reported. It can also lead to a loss of job for the brave efforts of throwing some light in the dark. Therefore, create a trust factor within your employees to ensure their job is at no risk at the cost of reporting malicious activities within the organization.
Conclusion
The Occupational Fraud 2022: A REPORT TO THE NATIONS ® shared by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), an anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education, stated that nearly half of the reported frauds in the study occurred the operations team (15 per cent), accounting (12 per cent), executive/upper management (11 per cent) and sales (11 per cent).³
Now with the above ways you’ll not only be able to tackle whistleblowing in your organization but also further understand the departments in concern.
This way, you can take measures to safeguard the organization from mischievous minds.
Godspeed!
Reference:
²Legislative Department
³ACFE