UK regulator Ofcom issued their annual whistleblowing report near the end of last week, and you may be surprised about which sectors generate the most whistleblowing disclosures. Whistleblowers are only meant to report their concerns to Ofcom if they have already tried and failed to get their own organization to pay attention, or if they fear reprisals if they raise their concerns with their colleagues. Even with these limitations, Ofcom received 77 whistleblowing disclosures from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, of which 37 came from the postal sector, followed by 30 from the communications sector. Just three came from Britain’s broadcast sector, which is striking given the many headlines about BBC newsreader Huw Edwards and mainstream television presenter Phillip Schofield behaving inappropriately towards co-workers in junior positions. Broadcast media is still reeling from the revelations that now surface more readily after the breakthrough caused by the ‘me too’ movement. It is not good that there are ten times as many whistleblowing cases being generated by the communications industry compared to a sector which has a badly tarnished reputation because of the perception that abuses are more likely to be covered up than investigated.
Some years ago I worked for a telco that made a mockery of its so-called whistleblowing policy by literally telling staff to ‘anonymously’ raise issues with their line management in the first instance. Even a cretin can tell this is playacting at being a responsible employer: your line manager knows your identity. But I do not think this kind of shameless pretense is that unusual. New whistleblowing policies may be motivated by the cynical desire to tell somebody in government that a business is being run responsibly, not by a genuine desire to care for employees. That is a mistake. Good employees will want to call out harmful or fraudulent behavior. Their willingness to speak about the things they have seen is a bulwark against corruption and crime. A channel to hear the concerns of whistleblower is just another avenue for gathering valuable intelligence. Any disclosure still needs to be investigated, so whistleblowing does not represent a threat to anyone if investigations are conducted diligently and dispassionately. Whistleblowing disclosures should be welcomed, because they may reveal serious issues that were previously hidden, and the existence of a credible whistleblowing procedure will serve as a deterrent to wrongdoing by staff.
