With Law 361/2022 on the protection of whistleblowers in the public interest entering into force in December 2022, private companies have become familiar with the idea of internal reporting channels, as required by law for all companies with at least 50 employees.

These systems are above all mandatory and therefore part of the general concept of compliance. But beyond representing a mere legal obligation, reporting systems, especially if chosen and implemented in an intelligent way, can generate numerous benefits for companies.

Here is how these benefits could look like:

• Reporting systems contribute to an exemplary organisational culture

A company’s existing organisational culture best reflects a company’s values, ambitions and commitments. Think about those metrics that say everything about a company, without referring to turnover or profit. These metrics have the ability to align the intrinsic values of the company with those of the consumers or beneficiaries of the services offered.

When it comes to reporting systems, they have a crucial contribution to creating a true organisational culture, by indicating, first and foremost, a commitment to giving each warning due attention and investing time in early detection of any issues that may hamper a company’s efforts to smoothly sail ahead.

Beyond these aspects, reporting systems allow you to listen to the concerns of those around you and respond to them by providing a specific order. We already know that the effectiveness and performance of our employees and partners is directly linked to the trust they have in us and our ability to solve the problems they face.  

• Reporting systems are the first step in managing integrity risks

Integrity risks refer to all risks to a company’s integrity, as such is understood as a guarantee for conducting a fair, ethical and efficient business that meets the highest performance standards.

The notion of integrity is dynamically developed by the values that exist in a society at a given time and represents, especially in relation to a company’s activity, the response to these demands and expectations.

We can think of integrity as a business conducted without corruption, without violation of human rights, with a commitment to environmental protection and with an emphasis on the values that animate us all: fairness, transparency, precaution and social investment. Thus, the most effective way we can become aware of potential deviations from a company’s purpose is to implement an effective reporting system, which has the ability to alert us in real time to all the things we have overlooked, the things we can improve or even the mistakes we make without being aware of it.

Let us not forget that the high level of competition in the market allows end consumers a much more sophisticated choice of the services and goods they buy or use: if we could choose between an efficient service and a service that is efficient, but which also offers the guarantees of a business that is careful and concerned about protecting the environment, human values and society as a whole, we would all prefer the latter.

• Reporting systems are a key sustainability indicator

The notion of sustainability has received a lot of attention in recent years, but it has still remained confusing and unclear. For us, sustainability means a set of principles and values, which can indicate the level of credibility and reliability of a company. A sustainable company:

• Invests in employees and gives them the ability to voice their concerns, even when they relate to things not done well enough or in need of improvement

• Is committed to acting in accordance with legislative standards, with a high level of due diligence, even without being obliged to do so. Furthermore, a sustainable company invests time and resources in constantly checking its compliance levels, keeping a close eye on vulnerabilities and how they can be overcome

• Understands that the risks you know about are the risks you can prevent, and investment in knowing about inherent or unexpected risks is measured, amongst others, by the diligence with which warning systems are chosen, implemented, and managed. Warning systems are in this respect the opening for improvement, the ability to manage risks and difficult situations.