Report Says Companies Leave Whistleblowers Waiting, Aren't Hearing About Retaliation

According to a report, companies taking longer every year to address whistleblower issues identified by employees.

In 2015, companies took a median of 46 calendar days to close ethics and compliance cases, up from 39 days in 2014, and 32 days in 2011. This trend is significant for organizations overseen by the SEC, as they have limited time to complete internal investigations under that agency's whistleblower provisions.

"The ongoing and significant rise in case closure times is cause for concern, as a festering workplace issue can drag down morale, productivity and organizational culture," said Penman. "It can also lead to allegations being reported outside the organization to regulatory agencies directly. Boards and executive leaders should take notice that their compliance programs could lose credibility with employees if this delay is not addressed. Best practice case closure time is an average of 30 days. Leadership needs to ensure there are appropriate resources to address the higher volume of reports they are now consistently receiving. Applying resources to address reports efficiently and effectively pays returns considering nearly half of all issues raised are now substantiated and thereby help organizations make important improvements in how they do business."

Retaliation being confirmed at sustained higher rate, but employees still more likely to report externally than internally: Last year's report found that the substantiation rate of retaliation reports more than doubled over the prior year. This higher rate was sustained in 2015 with 26 percent of all reports of retaliation substantiated. However, the total number of reports of retaliation that organizations are capturing is still very low – less than one percent of all reports – indicating that reporters are more likely to report concerns of retaliation externally than internally.

"This year's retaliation findings are still problematic because of the low overall rate of internal reporting on this issue," said Penman. "Despite higher substantiation rates, which indicate organizations are completing more thorough investigations, employees are not giving employers much of a chance to address this particular issue internally. When we look at external whistleblowing - taking an issue to an outside entity - retaliation is still the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's most frequently filed charge of discrimination, making up 45 percent of all private sector charges filed."

More reports being substantiated: Overall 41 percent of all reports received were substantiated in 2015, up from 30 percent in 2010. The anonymous report substantiation rate remained at 36 percent in 2015, the same rate as in 2014 and 2013.

Report volume remains at an all-time high: Between 2010 and 2014 a significant rise in the reporting rate occurred - a 44 percent increase since 2010, where the median was 0.9 reports per 100 employees, to 1.3 reports per 100 employees. In 2015, the reporting rate remained at the elevated level of 1.3 reports per 100 employees.

"The consistency of the higher rate indicates increased volume is becoming the new norm and organizations need to be prepared and staffed to manage an ongoing higher level of reports," said Penman.

Organizations that only collect web and hotline report data have an incomplete picture of compliance risk: Organizations collecting and recording reports from all reporting channels - including mail, email, walk-ins and other channels - documented 72 percent more reports than organizations that documented reports through web and hotline only. Limiting report capture to only web and hotline reporting channels provides an incomplete picture of potential risks and issues, and does not adequately employ the strengths of new centralized incident management software as a service systems.