REPORTING AND ENFORCEMENT

In every organisation, things occasionally go wrong. When this happens, careful action is vital.

Protection of reporting persons, careful internal investigations and fair enforcement strengthen the integrity of your organisation.

A reporting procedure – also known as a whistleblowing procedure – describes how, where and under what conditions employees can make a confidential report. Also ensure that employees are able to contact a confidential adviser.

Is the organisation prepared for a report, and do you, as a supervisory director, have a role in this? If an investigation needs to be conducted, it is important that this is done carefully. An investigation protocol describes whether, how and when the organisation proceeds to an internal investigation, who will conduct that investigation, and what measures and internal sanctions may be imposed. In this way, the Management Board avoids arbitrariness and increases the likelihood that an internal investigation will be handled carefully.

TIPS FOR SUPERVISORY DIRECTORS

  1. Familiarise yourself with the reporting procedure and discuss how it has been made accessible to employees.
  2. Discuss when and how the Supervisory Board will be informed about reports and/or the follow-up to them.
  3. Familiarise yourself with the confidential advisers’ annual report and invite them to a Supervisory Board meeting. Also familiarise yourself with the report of the reporting channel, as required under the WPA, and the anonymised data from the reporting register included in it.
  4. Ask yourself whether the number of reports received by the reporting channel is in line with what you would expect. A sudden increase in the number of reports may be cause for concern. However, an absence of reports is not necessarily a good sign either. In that case, discuss whether the Management Board is doing enough to remove barriers to reporting.
  5. Discuss the formal role of the Supervisory Board in the reporting procedure. For example, is the Supervisory Board the point of contact for potential reporting persons if the signal concerns a member of the Management Board? And what if the report concerns a member of the Supervisory Board? As a supervisory director, do you know what to do if a report is made directly to you? How would you then deal with confidentiality, and how would you determine what follow-up is appropriate?
  6. Familiarise yourself with the investigation protocol and the role of supervisory directors in it. For example, what does it mean if an investigation has to be conducted into a management board member and the Supervisory Board then commissions that investigation?