Whistleblowing services

A whistleblowing program is not just “window dressing”. It is a fundamental part of ethical business conduct, designed to foster an environment where everyone feels safe, respected, and empowered to speak up. 

Whistleblowing is not as simple as just establishing a hotline. While the system you choose to operate is critical, organizations must also take steps to ensure that both whistleblowers and the concerns that they raise are triaged, managed, and resolved in line with both national and international laws and regulations.

At EY, we help organizations develop and implement the right whistleblowing systems, to manage fraud risks and build a stronger culture of trust and integrity.

EY teams can help you to:

• Design and implement an end-to-end whistleblowing framework
• Review the effectiveness of your existing whistleblowing process, including comparisons with prevailing regulations and industry best practices
• Provide triage and investigation support during a whistleblowing incident
• Implement EY Managed Services offerings (including the EY GDPR- and EU Directive-compliant cloud-based services or the EY “speak-up” app) or make recommendations for an external whistleblower hotline.

EU Directive on Whistleblowing: a global issue

As of 17 December 2021, the EU Directive on Whistleblowing requires every company or public body in the EU, with 250 or more employees, to implement its own internal reporting policy for whistleblowing. By December 2023, the people criterion of this requirement will also be lowered to apply to organizations with 50 or more employees.

This affects not only EU-based companies. Multinational organizations operating in Europe that apply a single, global whistleblowing policy, must determine whether their current system falls within the EU’s exacting requirements. And if not, they will need to assess what needs to be done to comply with both EU and national legislations.