Definition of Whistleblower
You must have heard the term whistleblower quite a lot of times, but have you wondered what this term means in the business world?
Whistleblower is a person in an organisation, who lodges a complaint against their own organisation on coming across any unethical or legal activities in the organisation. This person provides insider information about such illegal activities in an attempt to stop them.
A whistleblower can be an employee, a contractor, supplier, manager, clients or basically anyone who comes across the wrongdoings in the company or organisation. This information is conveyed by the whistleblower to a higher authority or to the public directly.
A whistleblower can also directly file a lawsuit against the organisation, which will lead to a thorough criminal investigation of the entire organisation or the concerned department.
Types of Whistleblowers
There are two types of whistleblowers— internal whistleblower and external whistleblower.
Internal whistleblowers are the people who after coming across any misconduct or illegal activity inform it to some head authority like the head of the department, the human resources department or directly to the CEO.
External whistleblowers are those who report the wrongdoings in the organisation directly to the public, or media, or police or file a lawsuit against the organisation.
The said crime or misconduct can be in the form of a fraud or assault or any illegal activity. Some organisations have their own department for reporting such misconduct and protecting the whistleblower.
What is Whistleblower Protection?
As the whistleblower is going against the people in power by reporting the insider information, it becomes very important to protect the whistleblowers from retaliation from the company. It involves protecting them from reprimands, demotion or termination.
Sometimes whistleblowers also receive threats and therefore they need to be protected against any physical violence.
There are certain organisations that solely dedicate themselves to whistleblower protection. It is highly important as it provides a sense of security which encourages people to report any misconduct and do the right thing.
