Employees prefer helpline or in-person reports of suspected wrongdoing over whistleblower route

MINNEAPOLIS, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Businesses appear to be reaping the benefits for encouraging their employees to report wrongdoing, according to Helpline Calls and Incident Reports, a recent survey conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA). In fact, the survey conducted in April 2014, reveals that employees are now more likely to come forward and raise concerns both through helplines and directly to management or compliance officers. In addition, fears over a rise in whistleblower claims were not realized with just 6 percent of survey respondents reporting an increase in claims.

"The data here is very good for the compliance profession and business as a whole. It shows that more employees are willing to come forward when they see something wrong at work, and more are willing to trust that they will be listened to objectively," said SCCE and HCCA Chief Executive Officer Roy Snell.

According to the survey, 56 percent of publicly traded companies reported an increase in helpline calls, with 17 percent reporting that call volume had increased a great deal. And while the number of incident reports has increased, anonymous reports appear to have remained static, with 70 percent reporting no increase.

Employees appear more comfortable with in-person reporting of their concerns to management. According to the survey, 58 percent of the compliance professionals surveyed reported they had observed an increase in using all means of Incident reporting, including in-person reports; 14 percent reported that incident reports had increased a great deal.

"The vast majority of employees are willing to give the company a chance to find and fix problems," said Snell.

Use one of the following links to download the complete survey report and survey infographic (registration required):
SCCE:
http://www.corporatecompliance.org/Resources/ResourceOverview/Surveys/whistleblowing.aspx
HCCA:
http://www.hcca-info.org/Resources/ResourceOverview/Surveys/whistleblowing.aspx#.U3E2AtgnKUk

About the survey
Survey responses were solicited and collected during April 2014 from compliance and ethics professionals in the database of the Health Care Compliance Association and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Responses were collected and analyzed using SurveyMonkey, a web-based third-party solution. A total of 677 responses were received.

About SCCE
The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., is a non-profit professional member association that serves more than 4,000 compliance and ethics professionals globally. The association provides resources and training to compliance professionals and champions ethical practices and compliance standards. Visit the SCCE website at www.corporatecompliance.org.

About HCCA
The Health Care Compliance Association, established in 1996 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., is a non-profit organization with more than 9,000 members. It is dedicated to improving the quality of compliance. Visit HCCA's website at www.hcca-info.org. Tel: 888/580-8373.

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SOURCE Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE); Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)