Whistleblowing Report 2021: A comprehensive study on whistleblowing in European companies

From the design and communication to the use and benefits of effective whistleblowing systems.

About the Whistleblowing Report 2021

1,239 surveyed companies

4 countries

1 topic: Whistleblowing systems in European companies

The risk of falling victim to illegal and unethical behaviour is real for European companies. Information from employees and other stakeholders is of great importance in order to prevent misconduct or to identify it at an early stage. The majority of the companies surveyed are aware of this and have already set up an internal whistleblowing system outside the chain of command.

The Whistleblowing Report provides findings about:

Misconduct: To what extent companies in Germany, France, Great Britain and Switzerland are affected by illegal and unethical actions and to what extent whistleblowing systems are used as a detection and prevention tool
Whistleblowing systems: How effective whistleblowing systems can be designed and communicated and the benefits companies derive from them
Impact of the coronavirus pandemic: What impact the coronavirus pandemic has on companies' internal reporting units
EU Whistleblower Protection Directive: How companies assess the implementation of the Directive and how well prepared they are for the entry into force

The contents and results of the study at a glance

Taking a closer look

Abuses occurred in a good third of the companies surveyed.

Prevention and discovery

More than 60 percent of the companies surveyed have a whistleblowing system.

Deciding

The vast majority of companies with a whistleblowing system are convinced of how useful and effective it is.

Design

On average, whistleblowers have two to three channels at their disposal for contacting the companies surveyed that have a whistleblowing system.

Usage

The analysed companies with a whistleblowing system received an average of 34 reports in 2020.

Benefits

Approximately one third of the companies investigated were able to uncover more than 80 percent of the total financial loss with the help of a whistleblowing system.

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic

Companies that dismiss employees or whose employees work from home have an increased risk of misconduct and receive more reports.

Approval of the content of the EU directive

The company representatives see the EU directive on the protection of whistleblowers as useful.

Status of preparations for the entry into force of the EU directive

Only a minority of the companies surveyed are fully prepared for the introduction of the directive.

The Whistleblowing Report 2021 for download

Download the Whistleblowing Report 2021 now for free and you will get:

Register now for our Compliance News Service and learn about exciting news on compliance, whistleblowing and business ethics. After successful registration for the Compliance News Service, you will receive the link to the white paper by email. You can unsubscribe from the news at any time.