Snitches, Cynics and Troublemakers: Busting Myths about Whistleblowing Hotlines
Myths about whistleblowing abound – from assumptions about whistleblowers’ motivations to what makes a program effective. In this presentation, Miguel Rueda and Phil Enright will draw on research, industry knowledge, and experience conducting ethics investigations to ‘bust’ some of the common myths about whistleblowing and discuss the role that Internal Audit can play in that process. Given the recent actions of regulators and the increasing attention paid to financial and reputational risk by Boards and executives, the presenters believe there is a ‘climate of change’ when it comes to perceptions about whistleblowing. They also strongly believe that Internal Audit can take advantage of this climate and use it as an opportunity to change mindsets and ultimately build highly effective ethics reporting/whistleblowing programs. The Internal Audit profession has long recognized the value that whistleblowers can provide to organizations, yet there are persistent assumptions and mindsets that hinder the evolution of highly effective ethics reporting programs in organizations. The presenters will tackle and debunk several myths, including:- the notion that whistleblowers are all troublemakers
- the idea that anonymity encourages malicious/vexatious reports
- the view that receiving no reports means there is zero misconduct occurring
- the belief that submitting a report won’t or can’t make a difference
- the opinion that all organizations have to do to build an effective program is to implement a hotline