NAVEX Global’s 2018 Hotline & Incident Management Benchmark Report takes anonymized data collected from the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of reports. The report provides expert analysis of data that ethics and compliance professionals can use to make informed decisions about their program practices.
As we prepare the benchmark report for release, three early findings have surfaced as key indicators of whistleblower hotline and incident management programs this year.
On-Demand Webinar with Exclusive Preview of Findings
The Overall Report Volume Remained at the Highest Level Recorded to Date
Report Volume remained at the 2016 median of 1.4 reports per 100 employees which is the highest level we have recorded in these reports. This tells us that organizations should be prepared with sufficient resources and tools to respond to these consistently higher levels of reporting.
We also found that organizations are recording more cases than just those received via their hotline and web intake in their incident management systems. This presumably has contributed to the higher volume of reports as people grow more comfortable with traditional reporting channels as well as have increased access to a variety of reporting options.
With just these three data points, we are starting to see some evolution within internal whistleblower hotline and incident management programs. Program trust indicated by the downward trend of anonymous reports, shows us that incident management efforts are resonating with employees. This is reinforced by the consistency of high year-over-year report volumes. As compliance professionals, we need to capitalize on this opportunity by working to reduce case closure times and ensure the reporting process for whistleblowers is accessible, informative and comfortable. This will reassure internal reporters that they are key to the health and performance of their organizations.
