An Instrument of Last Resort

No one likes a snitch. Especially not in Europe, where the memories of past authoritarian regimes are still present. It appears there is a ‘European allergy’ towards misconduct reporting lines. Fear about possible false denunciations and the creation of a culture of snitching is widely present.

At the same time we see a growing need for transparency and the acknowledgment of the vital role an organisation’s members have in bringing wrongdoing to light. So, Europeans want to give sincere employees the opportunity to report the issues outside of normal reporting lines. However, they want this to be an exception and employed only when there is no other way. In short, Europeans want to encourage an open culture, but without being naïve.

We propose a rule that is easily and uniformly applicable: use a reporting line only as a last resort; always use normal internal reporting lines first. Only if this is impossible or unfeasible (criterion: if the issue would otherwise not be reported) should the integrity hotline be used. We are convinced that a culture of denunciation will not be created if the reporting line is used only for the most serious and sensitive cases. This can be achieved through the combined elements of:

• The right system design
• The right approach
• The right culture
• The right procedures