by Daniel Vaknine

When employees in NGOs feel embarrassed speaking up within, it raises the risk enormously that any misconduct or unethical practice will be revealed publicly and lead to irreparable damage to the organisation’s reputation and cause. With the new enactment of whistleblower protection legislation, having a trusted whistleblower system in place within your NGO or charity is vital. Not only does this protect your organisation from scandal, but it also provides another layer of safeguard for employees and volunteers, particularly valuable in such value-based cultures. Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

In the complex landscape of modern business, the role of whistleblowers has evolved from isolated incidents within large corporations and government entities to a critical component of organisational integrity and risk management. Recognising the paramount importance of effective whistleblower programs, here follows 6 tips to enhance and optimise your whistleblowing function, ensuring they not only meet regulatory requirements but also foster a culture of transparency and ethical accountability. Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

Whistleblowing can be a complex subject with many layers and parts. For those of you not working directly with whistleblowing, here’s everything you need to know about whistleblowing in one place. First of all, what exactly is whistleblowing? Whistleblowing is when someone, for example an employee, reports wrongdoing that they believe is in the public interest. Whistleblowing can, for example, concern illegal activities, such as embezzlement or corruption, or unethical/unfair behaviour at work, such as racism, sexism, or homophobia. Depending on the policy, these problems may be brought to the attention of an authorised person or group either inside or outside the workplace, although the latter is usually not “whistleblowing” in the sense of the law. Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

Many people, especially within the compliance area, are talking about the EU’s relatively new directive on whistleblowing. From December 17 2023, all organisations with more than 50 employees must implement internal whistleblower channels. In addition to this, there are also requirements for secure data storage (among other things linked to GDPR) and an easily accessible and informative whistleblower policy to ensure that all requirements are met. Here you can find the full directive in English, but how will the directive actually affect workplaces around Europe, and what effect will it have in the long run?  Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

When it comes to whistleblowing within an organisation, it is a good idea to use a whistleblower system. In short, this is a system that allows employees to report wrongdoings internally. In this article, I’ll go through the different types of whistleblower systems that are available so that you can gain an increased awareness of what methods are available. This in turn makes it easier to decide which methods your organisation can or should offer.

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by Daniel Vaknine

Although whistleblowing is often represented as huge scandals in the media or on TV, it is often not quite as dramatic in reality. The majority of whistleblower cases are handled internally and concern the incorrect treatment of employees or negative working conditions. However, there have been huge scandals that have occurred at very large corporate companies. Scandals that could have been prevented with the help of whistleblowing. In this post, we therefore take a closer look at 3 occasions that whistleblowing could have made a difference. Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

A number of global and large national companies already have centralised group-wide reporting systems in place and have relied on the adequacy of this global solution after 17 December 2021, when the new EU Whistleblowing Directive entered (or was supposed to enter) into force. The European Commission has however clearly rejected this interpretation. Continue reading…

by Daniel Vaknine

Employees play a key role in an organisation’s well-being. As we all know, it is they who make the organisation work. If the employees in an organisation are dissatisfied or experience injustices in the workplace, it can have major negative effects, ranging from lack of motivation and lack of results to enormous negative media attention or lost partners. A critical component in the well-being of employees is the possibility of whistleblowing. Historically, there have often been situations where people are afraid of being singled out as whistleblowers, either for fear of retaliation, special treatment or getting rid of their jobs. Today, these are well-established facts amongst many within the risk and compliance industry. Continue reading…