Illegal Practices in the Workplace: High Willingness for Whistleblowing

In a survey conducted by the "Business Software Alliance", employees of companies from the European Union were asked about illegal practices in the workplace. The results are striking: 15% of the respondents stated that they were aware of illegal practices in the workplace.


According to another BSA study, two-thirds of employees feel obliged to report bullying and discrimination. In contrast, only 32% would report violations of rules and regulations.

Morality is the most important reason

In addition to knowledge of illegal incidents in the workplace, employees who had already made a report were asked what their main motivation was for doing so. For almost 50%, moral reasons were the decisive factor. For one in four, it is part of professionalism in the job to report wrongdoing. Financial reasons, i.e., to receive remuneration for submitting whistleblowing reports, were seen as a motive by only 14%, according to the study. This desire to report can be taken up by the company through digital whistleblowing systems and the working atmosphere can be drastically improved as a result.

Companies should seize opportunities from internal reporting channels

Whistleblowing is sometimes associated negatively due to the seriousness of some reported grievances. In business circles, the establishment of anonymous internal reporting channels has rarely met with approval to date; cases are often submitted via personalized communication channels (such as telephone or e-mail). Employees are therefore less likely to report incidents, partly for fear of reprisals.
"The willingness to report grievances in the corporate environment should be taken seriously by management," says Lukas Hoffmann, Co-Founder of HINTBOX. "In this way, problems that arise can be dealt with and, if necessary, solved before they cause high economic damage."

Easy implementation of digital whistleblowing systems

Business owners often avoid introducing new IT systems due to cost and complexity. However, digital whistleblowing systems can be integrated into a company's compliance landscape within a very short time. Cloudification" means that IT software is increasingly being outsourced to external data centers. This also applies to whistleblower systems. "Whistleblower systems are predominantly offered as SaaS and are ready within a very short time, without the need for internal hardware resources or expert IT staff. The HINTBOX, for example, is ready for the customer just seconds after the order is placed," says Hoffmann.

EU Whistleblower Directive: Internal reporting channels mandatory

Even if anonymous whistleblower systems were not available in many companies, the executive floors of European companies will have to deal with the issue more intensively in the coming months. The EU Whistleblower Directive was already passed by the European Parliament last year, but it has yet to be transposed into national law. However, the directive requires companies to implement an internal reporting channel. By the end of 2021, companies with more than 250 employees, municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants and all legal entities under public law must set up whistleblower systems. By 2023, all companies with at least 50 employees will follow suit.

The HINTBOX is ready within seconds

The HINTBOX digital whistleblowing system from lawcode is not only simple and secure, but is also available just a few seconds after the order is placed. The ordering company chooses a link itself, through which the system can be accessed from any common browser. Of course, the HINTBOX complies with the EU whistleblower guidelines and the DSGVO. The data is stored exclusively in German ISO-27001 certified data centers.
For more information about the software, please visit www.hintbox.de.

Sources of the studies:
Statista
BSA Survey