The ERC on Whistleblowing Workplace Misconduct
Posted In Government, Human Resources, Workplace Violence on May 3rd, 2011 Tags: employee misconduct, Ethics Resource Center, Incident Reporting, infosec island
The Ethics Resource Center’s (ERC) recent survey revealed that 40% of employees observing misconduct do not step forward to report it out of fear of retaliation, mistrust or feel their reports will be ignored.
Lessons Learned: Organizations must develop secure, anonymous and/or confidential reporting solutions to empower all employees (and third-parties) to report suspicious incidents, violence, fraud, misconduct, ethical violations, etc. And once an incident has been reported, all appropriate personnel (ethics, legal, management, compliance, safety, law enforcement, etc) should be immediately and automatically notified to ensure a timely response and ensure red flags do not fall through the cracks.
Based on other surveys and reports, the percentage of people reporting incidents is even lower and when tips are not reported, it is nearly impossible for organizations to proactively prevent or intervene.
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Ed. Dept. Isn’t Backing Down From Bullying Guidance
Posted In Campus Safety, Education, Education, Government, Incident Reporting, Regulatory Compliance, Research, School Safety, Validations on April 19th, 2011
The Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter in October 2010 outlining schools’ responsibilities for being aware of, responding to and preventing future incidents of bullying, discrimination and harassment. In response to the National School Board Association’s letter questioning a school’s responsibilities, the Department of Education response clearly states it did not overreach in its original guidance to school officials— it only reiterated existing laws and policies and gave examples of how school districts can help combat bullying and harassment.
Lessons Learned: Schools have been put on notice and must develop comprehensive programs to respond to incidents of bullying and they must take actions to prevent future bullying incidents. Schools who fail to take appropriate actions risk losing educational funding and expensive lawsuits at a time when a funding cliff is looming large. Lessons learned also demonstrate that status quo approaches are not effective in preventing bullying so it will be critical for school boards and school leaders to implement more effective prevention and intervention programs immediately and document all incidents of bullying and harassment on an ongoing basis.
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