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Whistleblower hotlines connect employees to management A whistleblower hotline is an important method of connecting your employees with management in order to gain a holistic understanding of a company's workplace culture. In the past, the word 'whistleblower' had many negative connotations associated with it. The word would be associated with snitch, rat, traitor. The list went on. Essentially, whistleblowers were considered a person nobody wanted to be associated with. There may still be a little noise or confusion around the word, but generally, society understands that whistleblowers play an important role in keeping a company and its management accountable for proper and safe business conduct.

The mining industry is rife with safety issues, creating a considerable cause for concern for both workers and mining companies alike. With awareness, regular safety training and the right safety precautions in place, mining can become a relatively safe industry. As companies across Canada work to abolish safety issues in the mining industry, there's still plenty of room for improvement.

No more excuses for not having an ethics helpline. Six myths debunked! 6 Whistleblower helpline myths debunked We don't have fraud, abuse, or other misconduct in our company We have an open-door policy and employees can bring concerns to their supervisors My organization is small, we don't need a helpline? A helpline will be abused by frivolous reports My company can't afford to implement a helpline We have an internally run speak-up program and it's not generating feedback so why outsource? COVID has had a significant impact on businesses globally. It has lead to a differentiation in how employees work and how organizations operate compared to pre-pandemic times. We certainly can't expect that employees' perceptions of their workplace and the behaviours that take place in their workplace wouldn't be impacted by the unusual circumstances that are far removed from regular working operations.

Corporate social responsibility, also known as CSR, helps keep organizations socially liable Through this practice, companies can boost their brand image while giving back to society. Selecting a mission that aligns with what your company stands for can bring your employees closer, boost spirits, and ultimately create a more positive work environment. We turned to business professionals to get advice on how to correctly improve corporate social responsibility and this is what they said:

To organizations that want to promote a speak-up culture but don't know how Most of us agree that implementing a whistleblower hotline is a good thing. You can't argue with facts like putting fraud off to another day only increases its damage.

Many businesses fear that when they launch a new Code of Conduct, or whistleblower hotline, there may be employee pushback. There's also fear that such things may create their own cluster of issues like managing internal investigations, employee discipline, and retaliation. Rarely does implementing a hotline receive employee pushback. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Not only do these reporting mechanisms satisfy the mandate of Sarbanes-Oxley for public companies, and the credibility for non-profits and private organizations, management can look better in the eyes of because they are seen as taking a stand against workplace misconduct, and valuing employee feedback.