New Programs Make It Easier for Employees to Blow the Whistle

As reported by HRI, driven by companies looking to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and by a growing conviction that encouraging whistleblowers is good for business, a small industry has sprouted for organizations that create software and that offer other services which make it easy for employees to report possible wrongdoing. A report in Inc. Magazine says that companies of all sizes are buying the software and that more and more private organizations, which are not covered by Sarbanes-Oxley, are also buying the software. The goal is to head off problems before they start by using employees "as an early-warning system," according to the magazine. One problem some companies discover is the plethora of complaints they receive. Fios, a Portland, OR, company that inspects computer equipment for information pertaining to lawsuits, installed one of the systems in 2004 and was swamped. Of the 30 suggestions in the first 18 months, only two were serious, but experts say the little issues cannot be ignored if the system is to work. (Inc. Magazine [Dahl], March 2006)