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Companies of a certain size are required to set up internal reporting points for complaints. © IMAGO / Shotshop
Internal reporting points at the workplace are still not used enough. In order for them to be effective, they must be better developed and have consequences. The column “Restaurant.
Tiktokers often provide entertaining reports about the Kafkaesque complaint management in their “customer journey”. The Whistleblower Protection Act requires companies of a certain size to set up internal reporting channels for their own employees. They can use these to report information about criminal offenses and administrative offenses, but also to report violations of internal company guidelines or the code of conduct – without fear of reprisals.
Had Before the law was introduced, business associations feared that the reporting points would be inundated with banal complaints about canteen food, but the opposite has now turned out to be the case: they are hardly used. However, SAP’s whistleblower hotline recently made headlines because several internal reports, according to Wirtschaftswoche, led to the resignation of the chief technology officer due to “inappropriate behavior.” When you consider that, according to a study by the federal government, one in eight women and one in twenty men have been sexually harassed at work in the last three years, you wonder why the reporting points are not used much more often.
A well-designed reporting system can even prevent misconduct
One reason is certainly that most employees are not aware of the law, nor are the processes of their own reporting office communicated transparently. How can they be trusted to use them? But they offer companies great opportunities: abuses can be uncovered quickly, weak points identified, financial damage avoided and their own reputation protected. Because if you enable internal clarification, you can avoid negative reports in the press and social media.
With targeted communication combined with training, a well-designed reporting system can even prevent misconduct. For this to happen, everyone must be clear about where this behavior begins, what can be reported and how, and what happens to those involved. Consequences included. Turning a blind eye should always be punished more severely than supposed “slandering the nest.” After all, a good reporting system strengthens a company’s integrity and builds trust – among its own employees, but also among customers, business partners, and all stakeholders.
With her Montaghappen topic service and publishing house, the author supports experts, organizations and companies in communicating their knowledge to society.
