Do you whistleblow or are you a “MeToo” sort of person?

The most recent scandals that have occurred have been quite enlightening about our society. We have seen nasty activities being perpetrated by indiivdualsor organisations. Many of those being multiple occurrences of the same disgraceful  behaviour.  Whilst the behaviours may have happened in private,  there often seems to have been many people who were aware of them. However, none of them reported or did anything about the behaviour.

This leads to many people coming forward when a scandal becomes public on the basis of “that happened to me. I thought that I was the only victim”.  Invariably, there are many people who come forward when “Me Too” becomes available. Also, disappointingly, there are also many people who say they were aware, or at least suspicious about the perpetrators. 

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Weisel

Personally, I feel that the people who do not act upon reports, or worse still, cover up behaviours are as bad or even worse than the perpetrators. 

What people do not seem to realise is that an early report could mean that the amount of victims could be minimised in the future.

Stop the behaviour – no more victims.

Sadly, the perpetrators are often people of “power or influence” and the victims are “underlings or people with no power”. An imbalance in status. The perpetrators work on the basis that they will get away with it because people are scared to report.  Or the people to whom a report has been made do a risk assessment about the consequences of publicity or reutational damage. The victims also wonder whether they will be believed or whether reporting will damage their own prospects.

Worse still is the “wall of silience” that operates in many communities. The perpetrators of crimes have such a grip that reporting is dangerous. There is also the stigma about being a “grass or a snitch”. These customs enable criminals to continue with the activities with impunity.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly. Mahatma Gandhi

As a compliance consultant, I am a natural whistleblower. Reporting to management about any issues that are revealed in the course of my futies. Normally, with a view to putting things right. That is what I am paid for. A lot of my work revolves around training and guidance to try to work together towards better business pracitces.

However, if my concerns are not addressed by the management and their colleagues, I then need to assess hwo to go forward. One is to simply stop working with the firm, if I cannot help them. The nuclear option is to report to the FCA about my concerns.

What whistleblowers need to understand is that they have done their duty raising any issues with somebody that they believe has the power to act on the information provided. It is not up to the whistleblower to enforce any actions. They are merely reporting. It may be that their report is part of a much larger jigsaw. Just one piece of evidence or an allegation. It may well be that the weight of evidence may cause action. But enforcement will fall to whoever has the power to do so.

In order to try to address this, the FCA introduced the Senior Managers’ Regime. This meant that all directors and senior managers would be issued with a Statement of Responsibilities, which would clarify their duties and spans of control. The upshot of this means that if a problem arises, it is possible to identify who should be responsible for addressing the issue and hopefully resolve it. It has led to clarity on whether an issues falls within a person’s sphere of influence or not.

This must be easier for the management as they can be comfortable that they can only be held responsible for issues that occur in their department and not for the faults elsewhere in a business.  

This Statement of Responsiblities is important for good business practice. It should illustrate that the duties allotted to an individual are exercisble. It may highlight whether a person has too many duties to cover them effectively. It should also give rise to consideration about the ability of the individual to undertake those duties. Also, it should be possible to work out what training  the individual should be undertaking to ensure that they continue to be competent to complete their duties. Continuous Professional Development is not appreciated by many people and yet it is vital for the continuation of good business practices.