Whistleblowing Screening vs Case Handling for Advisors

After a prolonged process to implement the EU Whistleblowing Directive into national laws across the European Union, all member states have now adopted robust legislation to protect reporting persons. For advisory firms, this represents an opportunity to provide an additional service to clients who may not have the internal expertise or resources to carry out the requisite case management.

Companies with 50 or more employees must provide confidential whistleblowing channels, screen reports to understand which meet the scope of the national law and appoint an impartial person, department or third party to carry out the investigation, ensuring “independence and absence of conflict of interest.” They must also feed back within three months and support the whistleblower with free comprehensive information about their rights, legal aid for fighting retaliation, financial assistance and access to psychological help.

With the risk of significant sanctions for failing in their obligations under whistleblowing laws, it is no surprise that many companies will look to advisors for help. But, is it best to offer a full, A-Z case handling service or just preliminary screening? This article explores the benefits of either approach and the steps your advisory firm should take to decide.

1. A-Z case handling

1.1 What does A-Z case handling look like

As an advisory firm offering a full service for whistleblowing case management, you would:

Accept whistleblowing reports through a secure reporting channel that ensures the confidentiality of the whistleblower and any people mentioned in the report.
Acknowledge receipt of the report within seven days.
Screen the report to decide whether it meets the scope of what constitutes whistleblowing, based on both national law and your client’s company policy.
If it does, pass it to the investigations team who will collect information and evidence from the initial report. If possible, ask for more detail from the reporting person in a manner that does not affect their confidentiality.
Investigate the issue, including engaging anyone mentioned in the complaint, once again maintaining confidentiality.
Reach a conclusion and feed back to both the client and the reporting person as to the results of the investigation and the suggested next steps.
Support the client with legal advice for any escalation. Assist them in establishing policies, procedures and best practices to avoid similar issues in the future.

1.2 Benefits of an A-Z offering

You can sell your service offering on providing end-to-end compliance with legal requirements, which is a strong marketing statement to make for businesses that do not have the capacity to dedicate time and resources to scoring another piece of legislation.

As an advisor taking on the full case management process, you build a stronger working relationship with your clients. This approach requires more points of contact to keep the client informed of the progress of ongoing cases, offering the opportunity to build trust.

When you offer the full service, you take control of the whole process, maintaining consistency and reducing the chances that any information is not fully communicated during the handover back to the client.

You simplify your offering to clients, acting as a single point of accountability. You provide peace of mind by uncovering the truth and delivering clear, actionable advice to help them resolve current issues and prevent similar problems from arising in the future.

Although it demands more of your employees’ time, it will also increase your revenue because you can charge your clients for carrying out the entire whistleblowing case lifecycle.

2. Preliminary screening

2.1 What does preliminary screening look like?

By offering the preliminary screening option, your workflow would look like this:

Create a whistleblowing channel or use the client’s to accept confidential reports from whistleblowers.
Conduct an assessment to understand whether the case revolves around a subject area that constitutes whistleblowing under the requirements of the national law or within the client’s own policies and procedures.
When you have qualified cases as suitable, forward the details to the client, who will investigate and follow up.
Make an assessment to ensure that the investigating person or department within the client’s company does not face a conflict of interest with any individuals named in the case, whether reporting persons or those accused of wrongdoing.
Provide legal support in the event that one of the parties involved escalates the issue during the process.

2.2 Benefits of preliminary screening

Simply offering preliminary screening is a faster and more focused service to offer your clients, concentrating on using your legal expertise to filter the workflow and ensure the client only has to deal with material whistleblowing cases.

You make life easier for the client by categorising cases, based on topic, priority and urgency, helping them take control of their processes.

It is more cost-effective for clients who might not have the budget to engage a full-service offering for every report that comes in.

You reduce your liability and workload by maintaining a distance from the investigation process, but still have a presence to help if the client needs any further advice going forwards.

3. How to decide: Full service or preliminary screening?

Here are some steps to take when considering whether to offer the full whistleblowing case management service or just preliminary screening:

3.1 Assess your resources

Think about whether you have the capacity, expertise and technology to handle end-to-end case management for every client that requires it. For example, it is essential that only authorised parties have access to information about the cases they investigate, meaning you would have to have secure access controls over the data relating to each investigation. If the national law or client policy allows for anonymous reporting, do you have a platform in place to facilitate this?

Think about whether your team could handle the workload and whether there are enough employees trained in the investigation process to ensure each case is investigated in sufficient depth.

3.2 Understand your clients’ needs

It is advisable to engage with clients before making a decision on your service offerings. Ask about the type of service they want and what will help them maintain compliance and a healthy speak-up culture.

Do you work with firms that could feasibly host an investigations team or are your clients smaller businesses where it would be difficult to appoint an internal investigator who didn’t have some connection to potential reporting persons? This information will guide you towards the kind of option that will be most fruitful for your company and its customers.

3.3 Evaluate the burden on your clients

The regulatory burden on your clients will also help you understand which service would be most enticing for them. If you work with businesses in a particularly heavily regulated industry, this additional requirement to investigate cases might prove too much, meaning they need to outsource.

If your client works in multiple EU countries, it might also mean that they will need help adjusting their processes to meet the different specifications of the law across those territories.

3.4 Consider the risk and liability

Managing another company’s data is a significant responsibility, requiring a steadfast commitment to ensuring its integrity, preventing unauthorised access and maintaining confidentiality. This also provides an opportunity to evaluate your company’s risk appetite and determine the level of liability you are prepared to manage. By offering a full A-Z service, you position yourself as a comprehensive provider, though it involves a greater level of exposure compared to focusing solely on preliminary screening.

4. Conclusion

Advisory firms have the opportunity to provide additional services to clients that help them navigate the evermore complex regulatory landscape. This can lead to greater client satisfaction and retention, as well as providing a competitive advantage over those advisors who do not offer whistleblowing case management. However, when deciding whether to carry out the full process or just the screening, there are many considerations to make.

IntegrityLog Advisor is an online whistleblowing reporting platform designed to streamline case management for advisors. Key features include: