Laura Andrews attended this training on 2 February 2021 and has provided a write up of the session.
Having not had a lot of experience of the issue before going into the training, the term ‘whistleblowing’ had always conjured up thoughts of particular scenarios; one person against a massive corporation with details of malpractice or corruption leaked to the national or even international press.
However, the training session run by Protect made it very clear that this is a ‘worst case’ scenario when there are no other options. This is what can happen when companies do not have a procedure or policy to deal with whistleblowing concerns and grievances internally, or if they do, the workplace culture does not make these effective. Whistleblowing can be about raising everyday concerns internally and this needs to be normalised, in fact, Protect say this should be welcomed.
The session was run by Elizabeth (the CE) and Sybille (the Legal Director) and it was a very well put together session. It was not someone reading off a power point presentation, the information was well presented and Protect used interactive tools such as polls and break-out rooms to create discussions between the participants and to challenge assumptions using case studies relevant to the archaeological sector.
As might be expected the training session started out covering what is whistleblowing, and how whistleblowing differs from a grievance procedure. A grievance is usually a personal issue which will have occurred due to individual circumstances.
Whistleblowing is when a worker raises a concern about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice that affects others with someone in authority either internally or externally. This can be a concern about an issue that will affect multiple people or that would be a matter of public interest.
‘Speak up’ and ‘raising concerns’ are other phrases that can be used as whistleblowing is sometimes seen as an uncomfortable term.
We went through some of the main aspects of the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998 and how this also contains provision for raising concerns even under Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). Whistleblowing is about reasonable belief that there is a risk, they do not need to collect detailed evidence. Even if the concern turns out to be less serious, if the whistleblower had a reasonable belief in the wrongdoing then they should be protected by the Act.
We learnt how to differentiate whether scenarios are a grievance or whistleblowing concern and how we would act in those situations, either as the person raising the concern, or as the person the concern is brought to. The two can be interlinked because if a grievance claim is handled correctly, lessons can be learnt which would stop further grievances being brought, which may have led to a potential whistleblowing incident occurring in the future.
We talked about ways to create and maintain an effective speak-up culture. Having an effective culture means that staff are encouraged to raise concerns and will be less likely to feel grievances or whistleblowing procedures are their only options. The session also encouraged us to think about the wording of our existing policies and procedures and how this affects who feels protected. We should be encouraging not just about our direct employees but also sub-contractors, work experience students, and volunteers, to raise concerns.
Protect have gathered statistical evidence from across various sectors that over half of employees who raise whistleblowing concerns will have worked for the employer for less than 2 years, which is why it is so important that staff feel empowered and protected from day one, and that most will only raise their concern once, which is why it is so important that the first interaction is handled correctly.
Poor ethical cultures in workplaces can often have a detrimental consequence to the organisation as staff leave the company, resulting in it not being able to deliver its services properly.
This session would definitely be worth running again in the future. If attendance means that more companies encourage a positive attitude to speaking-up so that concerns are handled correctly at the point of raising, then the course will have paid for itself, both in terms of protecting and lessening the stress on employees and will also reduce pressure on employers that may have been caused by responding to escalated, and potentially long, grievance/whistleblowing procedures.
Reasons why someone might not raise a concern with their employer
- There is no point and it will be ignored
- They don’t know how to raise it or who to raise it with
- They are worried about losing their job
- They don’t want to be victimised, seen as a troublemaker or risk their working relationships with other staff
- They don’t want to impact other staff or get someone into trouble by raising a concern
- There is peer pressure to keep quiet
- They don’t believe it to be an issue
All these have a negative impact and could mean that something serious doesn’t get flagged when it should.
Good workplace whistleblowing/speak up policies should inform staff
- There is a safe alternative to silence
- Who to approach to raise concerns openly
- Include internal and external options and the importance of someone hearing their concern
- That feedback will be given to develop trust and confidence
