Zendesk is a global technology company headquartered in San Francisco, founded in 2007. Known for its customer service and engagement software, Zendesk supports over 100,000 businesses worldwide in building better customer relationships. 

The company has grown to thousands of employees across the globe and remains committed to transparency, ethics, and operational integrity in running its international and multi-cultural workforce

To strengthen that commitment, Zendesk decided to implement a dedicated whistleblowing and anonymous feedback platform. Their goal was simple. Support compliance, create safer work environments, and foster true speak-up culture.

Karina Galicia, Zendesk’s Senior Global Counsel for Integrity & Compliance, led the rollout, bringing a deep expertise in compliance strategy and global risk management. Read on to find out what mattered most to her in evaluating and implementing FaceUp.

This is how our platform supports Zendesk’s ethical and cultural goals.

A Platform to Match a Culture of Integrity

Zendesk’s decision to implement a whistleblowing and anonymous feedback solution was not just a choice. It was a need. 

“One of our main values is to foster our integrity culture,” says Karina Galicia. “We wanted to ensure we were doing the right thing.”

The company needed a tool that could meet legal requirements, provide anonymity for reporters, protect whistleblowers, and manage risks better. And it couldn't do that without giving employees a safe and anonymous way to report issues, without the fear of retaliation. 

3 Must-Haves in Vendor Selection

When evaluating vendors, Zendesk had clear criteria. “We’re a global company, so usability and legal coverage across jurisdictions were essential. Also, we wanted to easily analyze our trends.” As such, the platform had to offer:

• Full compliance with global whistleblowing laws, privacy laws (GDPR), and anti-bribery laws
• A simple, intuitive experience for employees spread worldwide
• Strong reporting and analytics features to help identify trends

Adopting FaceUp: A Phased Rollout with Tailored Training

The rollout began with Zendesk’s headquarters and compliance and investigative teams, gradually expanding to other teams.

“We have corporate and workplace investigations. That’s why we wanted to have a platform that could support both. The teams all deal with different kinds of reports. We needed a tool that was able to bridge the gap between the various working and cultural contexts.”

One key learning? 

“Customizing the training for each department really helped with adoption,” Karina says. 

Different teams handle different kinds of reports, so adjusting the approach to fit their workflows made onboarding smoother and more effective.

Centralized Case Management = Faster Resolution

Before FaceUp, Zendesk’s investigations spanned multiple systems and formats. Now, everything is mainly handled in one place.

“What stands out is the centralized case management. FaceUp lets us track and document investigations under a centralized system,” Karina explains. 

That helps ensure nothing slips through the cracks, and everything follows the same standards.”

This consolidation has shortened resolution times significantly. 

“We’ve reduced investigation durations to a much more manageable timeframe.”

Building Awareness and Trust Internally

“ As a compliance professional, how we communicate our tools is something we’ve always had in mind. We put in place a robust programme that would speak to our employees not only about FaceUp, but whistleblowing in general. ” Karina says.

Zendesk backed the rollout with a multi-step communication campaign:

• A global announcement email with a personal video from the Chief Compliance Officer
• FaceUp training included in compliance sessions
• Detailed references in internal policies and annual training
• Physical posters placed in key office locations, even in restrooms
  
   

“Employees finally feel more comfortable raising issues. As we’ve been investigating and addressing complaints, they’ve seen it works and that they don’t need to fear retaliation. That has helped build confidence in FaceUp as a secure and anonymous line, too.”

From Reports to Remediation

Zendesk uses FaceUp not just for reporting, but for identifying root causes and systemic improvements.

Karina explains: “For example, if someone steals a laptop, the short-term fix might be a termination. But we also ask - how did this happen? If there's no equipment checkout process, we fix that. That’s the long-term remediation.”

With FaceUp, they can document both immediate actions and long-term process changes in one system. For the latter, they can collaborate with other internal teams on creating effective fixes for processes and systems that don’t work.

Adapting to a Global Workforce

With teams across time zones and legal frameworks, Zendesk needed a solution that could adapt across cultures.

“FaceUp’s user-friendly design has made adoption easy, regardless of where our teams are located,” Karina notes. “It also allows us to offer a 24/7 reporting tool to our employees.”

Measurable Investigation & Cultural Impact

Zendesk includes questions about whistleblowing tools in its annual training survey: Do employees know the tools? Do they trust them?

“Employees have been with less fear of retaliation, which allows us to, at the same time, improve our ethical and transparent culture at Zendesk. The scores are increasing year over year,” Karina says. “It’s not perfect yet, but it shows we’re headed in the right direction.”

“Instead of having an investigation open for days due to the difficulty of tracking cases across numerous systems and channels, FaceUp centralizes them all into one, which helped us reduce investigation timeframes significantly,” she adds. 

What Stood Out Most About FaceUp?

For the team, the biggest surprise was the usability. 

“We cannot stress enough how easy it is to use. FaceUp is very intuitive, and actually nice to navigate,” “ It’s very flexible across different use cases.” 

“We use FaceUp for addressing workplace and cybersecurity issues. However, even if you are a company working in a very particular niche, such as retail, pharmaceuticals, or manufacturing, you can create and experiment with reports that fit you specifically."

Final Thoughts: The Role of Speak-Up Tools in Modern Compliance

Karina highlights FaceUp’s security features and intuitive design as the biggest arguments for its adoption. Zendesk shows what global compliance teams looking to streamline investigations, boost psychological safety, and foster a culture of integrity can achieve. 

To end with, we’ll leave you with her thoughts on the landscape of current-day compliance in lieu of her experience with Face Up.

“FaceUp is a secure and user-friendly platform that gives both us and our employees confidence, and speak-up tools like it are crucial. Not just to meet legal requirements, but to spot issues and take early action. You don’t need to wait for an audit to do the right thing.”

“If an employee reports something anonymously, it should be anonymous. You want to be certain you’re compliant with whistleblowing laws around the world. It’s something you can show a regulatory authority, and that’s really valuable.