Whistleblower protection policy: How-to guide 

Recently, there’s been a greater demand for transparency and accountability in the business world. Many organizations have implemented policies demonstrating their willingness to be open and accountable. One such policy is a whistleblower protection policy, which establishes procedures for employees to report illegal workplace conduct and protects these reporters from retaliation. 

Several federal and state laws protect whistleblowers, and the laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To show your employees that your organization wants to be responsible and ethical, create a whistleblower protection policy and include it in all employee handbooks and new hire packets.

Key elements to include in a whistleblower protection policy

The following instructions will help you understand the terms of your whistleblower protection policy. Please review the entire policy before finalizing your document.

Effective date

In this section, enter the name of your company and the date on which your policy becomes effective.

Purpose

This section explains the purpose of your policy and emphasizes that your company wants its employees to report good-faith concerns about illegal conduct in the workplace. Many nonprofit organizations extend this protection to include volunteers as well.

Reporting violations

This section describes how individuals can report illegal activities.

• Compliance officers: Enter the names and contact information of your company’s compliance officers. They should be trustworthy and easy to contact. If you have a large company, consider providing a longer list of individuals to whom reports can be made.
• Anonymous hotline: In this section, you can include if your company has created an anonymous hotline number to report unlawful contact.
• Alternative reporting options: This section provides alternatives if the reporter feels uncomfortable with the above options. This is essential if a suspected violation involves a compliance officer or the reporter thinks the officers aren’t taking a report seriously.

Anonymous reports

This section lists the company's genuinely anonymous means of reporting problems. 

Contents of report

This clause reminds reporters to provide as much information as possible on their concerns. This section also notes that although reporters don’t have to include their names, it may be helpful to do so if compliance officers have additional questions.

Anonymity and confidentiality

Although your company’s policies allow for anonymous reporting, some reporting methods are inherently public. For example, a voice on a phone call may be recognizable, or handwriting can be identifiable. This section reminds your company’s employees to consider how they report problems if they wish to keep their anonymity.

Investigating and resolving reports

This section states that the compliance officer will keep all of the reports received in a file and indicates that an investigation of a report will begin promptly after it is received.

Compliance officers’ duties

This clause describes the reporting and investigative duties of compliance officers. Select the appropriate group to which reports will be made or add a separate group.

The compliance officers can contact the reporter if the original report isn’t anonymous.

Good faith

This section explains that reporters who make false reports may face disciplinary proceedings.

No retaliation

This clause informs employees that they won’t face adverse employment consequences because of reports they made in good faith.

Here, add the appropriate individual and their contact details to whom reports of retaliation should be made.

Other law

This section explains that the policy should be read consistently with all relevant laws.

Frequently asked questions

What is a whistleblower protection policy?

To be transparent about suspected unlawful activity, many companies have rules to protect people, sometimes called whistleblowers, who come forward to report potentially illegal actions. Protecting whistleblowers helps to root out any misdeeds and creates an environment where people feel safe to speak up without fear of retaliation. With a whistleblower protection policy, show that your business holds itself accountable.

What are the requirements for a whistleblower policy?

Here's the information you'll need handy to complete your whistleblower protection policy:

• Which company it's for: Know the name of the business issuing this policy.
• Reporting info: Be clear about how a person can report a suspected violation.
• Date and time: Note the date this policy will go into effect and how quickly internal investigations should begin, if necessary.