by Michel Klompmaker
On 7 November 2023, the Serious Whistleblowing Annual Conference took take place at the Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Hague, Netherlands, which was organised together with one of the best-known lawyers in the field, Caroline Raat. The EU Whistleblower Directive has been implemented in the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Employers have set up their internal procedures or are busy doing so. What is of great importance for the professionals in the field is the following: (I) receiving notifications securely, (ii) protecting the reporter, (iii) investigations into reported abuses, (iv) handling and measures, and (v) legal proceedings. This is part two in a series of three articles on the event.
Martijn van de Westelaken and Sebastiaan Biesheuvel gave the third presentation of the day. This article will focus on Martijn van de Westelaken’s (Partner at CompliAbility) presentation about the reporting process.
Safe reporting channels and total solutions
Martijn opened his talk by stating that many companies and organisations strive for a safe working and reporting environment. However, this requires more than implementing the new Whistleblowers Protection Act. But that is an important fundamental step in the right direction. In addition, it appears that requirements in the new law coincide with requirements in other legislation such as the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act.
Practice shows that many small and medium-sized companies and organisations have difficulty meeting the stricter requirements in the new law, such as designing the internal reporting procedure. Martijn indicates that in his talk he will elaborate on a few requirements in the new law. Companies and organisations must provide an internal reporting point where employees can report abuses and integrity violations in an accessible, secure and anonymous manner. The receipt and registration of reports must be done in a secure register. An independent officer must then process the report. A report must be handled carefully, where all interests are taken into account and where qualitative follow-up is guaranteed.
Legal terms have also been set within which a reporter must receive confirmation of receipt of the report and feedback about what happened to the report. Finally, employees must have access to a confidential counselor. A confidential counselor assists an employee who has (serious) concerns and, if necessary, guides them in making a report (to the internal reporting point). The preference is to report internally so that companies and organisations can solve the problems and prevent escalation (and damage). But this is not mandatory, reporters can also report externally to the government such as the House of Whistleblowers.
But how do small and medium-sized businesses and organisations arrange all this? How can employees report easily, safely and anonymously? What requirements must a secure register meet? And which independent official can handle a report?
The market has developed a total solution for this, which has already helped many organisations and their employees. A solution where technology, innovation and specialisation come together to protect reporters as best as possible, handle reports of abuses and integrity violations carefully and strive for the best possible solution.
The reporting process
Martijn outlined the reporting process as follows:
- High-quality, accessible communication system where you can report safely and anonymously 24/7 via app, web or telephone;
- Receipt and registration of notifications are protected at the highest security level and GDPR-proof;
- Confirmation of receipt and feedback to the reporter within the legal terms is guaranteed;
- Access to an independent confidential counselor;
- The handling of reports by independent officials;
- Communication system makes it possible to communicate anonymously with the reporter (for both parties to be heard);
- Follow-up to reports guaranteed by solution-oriented advice or, if necessary, person-oriented independent research under a POB permit from the Ministry of Justice and Security and by authorised researchers;
- Templates for policy, internal reporting procedure, code of conduct and internal communication material for effective implementation.
Finally, the speaker mentioned the team performance loop developed by WIAL. Prevention to avoid problems is the most important thing. Why do some teams and organisations perform better than others and are there fewer problems such as abuses and integrity violations? The speaker identified the important elements that are essential for team development processes and the prevention of problems.
Conclusion
Martijn van de Westelaken’s talk presented an excellent follow up to Sebastiaan Biesheuvel’s talk about speaking up. He started off by underling the importance of having safe communication channels for people to report within. He then gave an insightful step by step overview of the reporting process and what it entails. He then closed his talk by addressing some important questions that one should ask themselves with regards to their organisation and team, and similarly to Sebastiaan, maintained the importance of having a safe work culture.
