How should companies improve their whistleblowing programmes?
Ms Ang said that in recent years, there has been more focus on putting safeguards in place to maintain the integrity of whistleblowing programmes in order to give assurances to whistleblowers.
The lawyer has experience in advising firms on their whistleblowing policies and processes.
At the same time, companies need to make sure there is a process to look into these complaints such that whistleblowers do not abuse the policy, she said.
She added that firms that take their whistleblowing policy seriously focus on compliance and ensuring there is good ethical conduct across the organisation.
“So instead of saying that you must be certain before you whistleblow, they do want to encourage whistleblowers to come forward if there are actually real issues there,” she said.
When it comes to whistleblowing, it is the management that sets the tone, said Prof Mak, adding that it is important that they are committed to the programme.
Why should companies have robust whistleblowing programmes?
If companies do not have a sound policy on whistleblowing, it is more likely that employees will look for external avenues, said Prof Mark.
“And once (he or she) goes externally to a regulator, (the firm) may lose any control it has in terms of how it manages the investigation process, so (it is) in the organisation’s self-interest to have a good whistleblowing policy,” he said.
Ms Ang added that the potential reputational damage of not having a whistleblowing programme that has integrity could be worse than any costs a company may incur from setting it up.
Do you get rewarded for whistleblowing?
According to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore website, a reward based on 15 per cent of the tax recovered, capped at S$100,000 (US$73,000), would be given to informants if the information and documents provided lead to a recovery of tax that would have otherwise been lost.
However, Prof Mak said that typically, whistleblowers would not ask for a reward.
While there used to be general reticence in terms of reporting among Asians, there is greater awareness now of the importance of a whistleblowing programme, said Ms Ang.
She also pointed out that upcoming legislation like the one on workplace fairness will come with a mandated grievance process and protections against retaliation on whistleblowers.
