Start working on the Whistleblowing Directive.
As of 17 December 2021, a new law, the so-called Whistleblowing Directive, entered into force. The law strengthens the protection of whistleblowers in Sweden and covers both private and public activities. In addition, if the organisation has 50 or more employees, the law sets a lot of requirements that must be met. Regardless of the size of the business, we believe that this is something you should have in place, in order to become stronger as an organisation, more credible among the competition and more attractive to job seekers.
We help you to create the necessary organisation and structure around this, setting up processes, roles, activities, defining guidelines and policies. Furthermore, we can also offer a tailor-made IT solution to get the required support systems in place.
AddPro can deliver the following in this area:
- Develop governance documents and policies
- Address and ensure control points
- Awareness and education plans and materials
- Support systems for safe handling
- Help with implementation and configuration of support systems
- Reception function to help assess and investigate cases
Regarding implementation, the law sets slightly different requirements. Depending on the size of the company, businesses have different deadlines to get this in place. For businesses with more than 249 employees, a solution should be in place by July 2022. For smaller businesses with between 50 and 249 employees, the deadline to have this in place is 17 December 2023.
What is required of the employer or organisation?
- Providing secure reporting channels for whistleblowing
- Ensure that employees know how to report irregularities
- Acknowledge receipt of reports and provide feedback within the statutory timeframe
- Protect the identity of whistleblowers and the people named in the reports
- Protect employees from retaliation
What is required of a support system?
As part of our efforts to provide whistleblowing services, we have reviewed and analysed many of the tools and support available on the market. Following our analysis and high standards of security, anonymity, functionality, availability and compliance, we have chosen to partner with Whistleblower Software. Here are some of the points that stand out and that led us to enter into this partnership.
- Easy to use and get started with
- Complies with legal requirements
- Secure and encrypted data storage
- Full E2E encryption
- Access control with multifactor authentication
- ISO/IEC 27001:2013
- ISAE 3000
- GDPR-reviewed
Why should we have this in place?
Many companies and organisations settle for a simple solution that just meets the legal requirements, but then we think they lose out on the great benefits that proper implementation brings. By contrast, if you outsource the investigation and handling of cases to an external party, you have more than met the legal requirement for impartiality. It also ensures that all information and investigations will be carried out in a professional manner, with data handled in a safe environment, taking into account the protection and support of the whistleblower.
Effective and timely handling of cases reduces the risk of wrongdoing coming to the attention of the public, thereby reducing the risk of loss of trust in the business and brand.
Last but not least, we believe it increases both the confidence and attractiveness of your employer. Taking these issues seriously is part of the drive towards a healthy, safe and fair corporate culture.
Curious to know more about how we can help you with the Whistleblowing Directive? Contact us:
Jens Johansson, Hannes Edström