What did the introduction of FaceUp to the Brno-Centre Municipal Office bring? And why has there been an increase in overall productivity across the workplace? Read our interview with the secretary of the Brno-Centre Municipal Office, Bc. Petr Štika, MBA, LL.M. First you introduced an anti-corruption hotline and then subsequently were the first authority in the Czech Republic to introduce an online whistleblowing platform. What motivated you to introduce these channels? "We started using an anonymous whistleblowing channel several years ago because we wanted to increase the city hall’s transparency and introduce an effective tool to prevent corruption. We wanted to give everyone who has been in contact with the office or the organisations of our city district and has witnessed corruption or unethical conduct to be able to report it. We imagined that the option of anonymous reporting would be used by goods or service suppliers who had been unsuccessful and maybe the employees of entrepreneurs who have worked with our city district. We assumed that these target groups in particular would be fearful of reporting suspicious activities that they might have witnessed.” Why did you switch from an anti-corruption hotline to a whistleblowing platform and what do you see as the differences between the two?“A fundamental and significant difference between the two is that when a whistleblower submits a report through a whistleblowing platform you can keep communicating with them, provide feedback, and clarify their report. When reporting through a whistleblowing platform a whistleblower can stay anonymous, the system generates a numerical code with which they can log into their report, receive feedback, add to their report, and maintain contact with the recipient of the report.” How has the introduction of this channel gone for you? What has it improved?“The introduction of an anonymous whistleblowing channel has worked out really well for us. Originally we only thought of it as a tool for preventing corrupt conduct. Nevertheless, whistleblowers do use the tool. We have already received several dozen reports through it. At the beginning we were a little concerned from an ethical standpoint that the ability to send anonymous reports through the channel would result in slander and abuse. But this did not materialise. The reports that we have received so far have been relatively factual and concrete. We were able to investigate them and come to objective conclusions. Thanks to these reports we have also taken a range of other measures. From this perspective, it is an excellent tool for improvement. However, we are prepared for slanderous reports, that is whose goal is not to draw attention to breaches of the law but to unfairly damage someone’s name through the whistleblower’s actions. From my many years of experience in leadership positions I know that the only way to effectively combat slander is to fully investigate, and if the claim is false, fully refute it. That way you clear the person’s name who the slander was aimed at and you maintain good internal culture within your organisation. This is why an anonymous channel is suitable.  After investigating several reports we terminated our working relationship with the head of a large department of the Brno-Centre Municipal Office. What is interesting is that overall productivity then increased in this workplace.  A slightly unexpected albeit useful dimension that we have obtained from the anonymous whistleblowing channel is in the area of labour relations. We received several anonymous reports from employees about bullying. We took this very seriously, as our work environment is very important to us. After their investigation, we terminated our working relationship with one of the heads of a large department of the Brno-Centre Municipal Office and in another case we placed several employees under different leadership. Thanks to this anonymous whistleblowing channel we were able to create better working conditions for our employees. What was interesting is that overall productivity then increased in this workplace.”

Sports equipment retailer SPORTISIMO has more than 200 stores in 5 countries and employs more than 4,000 people. In order for employees to be able to anonymously send in suggestions of how they might improve the way the company runs, they introduced the online tool FaceUp at the beginning of 2021. Company HR Director Tomáš Rodný is delighted with that decision.  Extremely useful, albeit less serious, reportsFaceUp is an online platform created especially for the anonymous reporting of unfair or illegal conduct within companies (also known as ‘whistleblowing’). However, employees can also use the tool to make less serious suggestions to help improve the company, which happens very often in practice.  “SPORTISIMO is open to employee feedback, which is why we carry out a survey each month, asking staff about a predetermined issue. We introduced FaceUp as more of a complementary tool, a hotline through which people can anonymously raise a given matter. To be truthful, we only expected to receive a small number of reports, for example about serious breaches of internal regulations or even law breaking,” recalls Tomáš Rodný. However the reality was quite the opposite. During a year of operation, SPORTISIMO employees submitted over 180 reports. That’s an average of 15 per month. The majority of these reports were in fact not about serious matters, but more everyday issues. But they were still extremely valuable.  “For example, one person suggested that we change the music in our stores more often. Another employee asked why we don’t have a women’s version of a popular men’s size 42 shoe. At first glance they might be dismissed as trivial, things which management is blind to, but it’s worth dealing with them as it leads to higher employee satisfaction,” continues Tomáš Rodný. Initial fears of misuse of the tool quickly disappearedFaceUp is particularly praised for the simplicity of its implementation and use. “FaceUp has made our work a lot easier. The application interface and all materials are translated into five languages and they have even prepared marketing materials such as flyers. As a result, we’ve been able to introduce FaceUp into all our stores in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary,” added Rodný, who has worked for SPORTISIMO for five years. FaceUp is a simple online whistleblowing platform, which an employee can learn to use within a couple of minutes. Initial fears that FaceUp wouldn’t be used or that employees would abuse it by overwhelming it with nonsense reports proved to be unfounded. “It didn’t happen even once. The overwhelming majority of reports are really relevant, they quickly reach the appropriate person and in turn we resolve the matter. Through FaceUp you can communicate further with the person who sent the report, albeit anonymously, should you need further details or clarification. More straightforward issues we’re able to deal with in 24 hours, the more complex ones within a week or two. Most conversations end with the author of the report thanking us for dealing with the issue,” reveals Tomáš Rodný. Tomáš Rodný has no doubt that he would recommend FaceUp to other companies: "I absolutely recommend FaceUp to any company which, like us, has a number of branches over a large area, for instance over several countries. In such an environment it can be difficult to systematically collect feedback from employees, but thanks to this anonymous platform, it is possible,” he concludes. 

More than half of a company’s employees who witness unethical or illegal conduct hide it from their superiors. However, nearly 75% admit that they would share information regarding fraud with an external party such as the media, the police, or a lawyer. As an example, this exactly what happened to Škoda Auto when in 2019 a severe case of workplace bullying came to light. The media heard of stories of regular employees locking their agency colleagues in crates and putting laxatives in their coffee. In the best case scenario, unreported problems can result in a media scandal, in the worst case they end up in court.  The start of whistleblowing in the EUA fundamental change in the area of whistleblowing in the EU is being brought about by EU directive EU 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. In relation to the directive becoming law, all private companies with more than 50 employees must implement internal reporting channels for the reporting of inappropriate behaviour or fraud by the 31st March 2022. The rules are quite strict - the whistleblower must be able to report their issue anonymously, their safety must be ensured, and the company must respond to the complaint within the designated time frame. Why are people reluctant to report unethical conduct?The onlooker effectVery often we see the presence of the so-called ‘onlooker effect’. In such cases, the employee doesn’t report anything because they assume somebody else will. The onlooker effect is a paradoxical psychological phenomenon which shows that the more people present at a dangerous or hostile situation, the less likely someone is to intervene.  In 1960, psychologists Bibb Latané and Judith Rodin carried out an experiment. Columbia University students were invited to a room where they were to fill in a questionnaire in the presence of an assistant. After a while, the assistant announced that she would be right back and went into the next room. After four minutes, she played a recording of a fictional fall, where she moans that she has broken her ankle. The recording was set to play until one of the subjects came to help her or until a minute passed. How did it turn out? 70% of the students rushed to the assistant’s aid if they were alone in the roomIf there were two students in the room, 40% decided to helpAs the number of participants increased (including people who agreed to passively participate in the experiment) those who chose to help fell to an unbelievable 7%The results of similar experiments show that people respond to emergency situations more slowly in the presence of others. No single person feels responsible for dealing with the crisis situation.  FearBesides the fact that people who report unethical activities in the workplace are often labelled snitches, they face the threat of retaliation on the part of colleagues or their superiors. People have to face the internal fear of rejection and also that of losing their job, ostracisation by their colleagues and other consequences.  The absence of a secure reporting systemThe reluctance of employees to report unethical or fraudulent activities in their company is due, among other things, to the lack of a reporting system which would allow them to simply and safely report such behaviour. Telephone hotlines, emails and physical boxes are a thing of the past and, what’s more, they don’t guarantee 100% safety and anonymity which is key in such cases.  How to effectively introduce a whistleblowing platform into your company?All of these barriers can be reduced through the introduction of a company reporting tool. The basis is transparent communication with employees. Those in management positions need to clearly explain why they are introducing a reporting system into the company, what they expect in relation to it, and, above all, how people should use it.  Do you have questions about how to implement a company reporting tool? Would you like to see FaceUp in action? Book a no obligation consultation with one of our specialists.