Implement effective corporate hotlines and helplines
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How to create an effective ethics and compliance helpline
Efforts to engage the workforce in ethics and compliance directly benefit from employee helplines. Often established to meet requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, helplines give employees a means to report potential misconduct and ask questions freely about ethical situations they face on the job, empowering them to become active partners in fostering an ethical corporate culture. Internal helplines vs. third-party systems
Developing an internal system requires much more than installing a toll-free telephone and answering machine. To effectively meet the best practice guidelines for installing and utilizing an internally sponsored helpline, managers and directors must consider first how the organization will manage 24/7 intake of reported information. Also critical are how reported information will be distributed to authorized individuals and how follow-up questions may be posed to an anonymous reporter. In order to receive protections under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the organization must also document the steps taken in review and resolution, and securely retain this information. This paper helps readers weigh whether to utilize a third-party solution to embrace industry-wide best practices, or to develop an internal helpline independently. Navigating French helpline requirements
Any procedure that captures or stores reported information or investigation data electronically (referred to by the CNIL as an “automated system”) must comply with the CNIL requirements for operating a whistleblowing system. Whether the system is internally developed or provided by a third-party, a number of requirements must be in place in order to support the CNIL Single Authorization procedure. This paper captures these specific requirements and functionality so as to allow an organization to configure a helpline solution that they can confidently register with the CNIL, including English translations of the forms on the CNIL website. |
