Research

Rajeev Syal – May 14, 2013

Three out of four whistleblowers who raise concerns of wrongdoing at work with their managers have their claims ignored, an analysis of cases has found. Files of 1,000 workers who approached a whistleblowing helpline for advice also showed that 15% were eventually sacked from their jobs while many others were bullied, ostracised or victimised.

Cathy James, chief executive of the charity Public Concern at Work which runs the helpline, said that the findings show that the legislation meant to protect whistleblowing in Britain needs to be reviewed.

Margaret Heffernan – March 5, 2013

The predominant myth surrounding whistleblowers is that they're cranks, madmen (and women) all with a grudge and mildly unstable. Movies like The Insider and The Informant reinforce the stereotype and it's fantastically comfortable for all of us to pillory these outsiders because as long as they're crazy, we are sane in our silence.

I've interviewed dozens, if not hundreds of whistleblowers and the truth is diametrically opposed to the myth. For the most part, these are deeply loyal employees who don't have a grudge - they have a passion, for their organization and the causes that it serves.

Despite facing often draconian measures, whistleblowers are increasingly winning public support, reveals a new survey

Suelette Dreyfus – October 19, 2012

Whistleblowing is relevant in the UK now more than ever, as the recent stream of high profile cover-ups and the relentless clamp downs on truth tellers has shown.

The Hillsborough Inquiry, the string of serious problems in the NHS and related health agencies, the recently revealed Ministry of Defence internal document gagging whistleblowers from revealing wrongdoing to their own MPs. The list of examples goes on and on. They illustrate exactly why we need whistleblowers in society in the first place.

C.M. Matthews – May 30, 2012

For the past two years, U.S. businesses have been predicting the disintegration of internal misconduct reporting at the hands of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new whistleblower program. Those fears may be overblown, according to a study released Thursday.

As the SEC wrote rules for the new program, which was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform package, the business community warned that offering bounties to whistleblowers would undermine their internal reporting systems. A 10% to 30% cut of penalties worth millions of dollars would be far more enticing than correcting the matter in-house, they argued.