Communication Tools

Whistleblowers challenge a company at every level. To external audiences, whistleblowers spell wrongdoing even where there is no wrongdoing. Whistleblowers can deprive employers of due process in the Court of Public Opinion.

Internally, whistleblowers can shake confidence and destroy morale. The accuser has emerged from the employees’ own ranks. At worst, their accusations achieve all the more credibility as a result. At best, whistleblowers are a long-term distraction that threatens productivity.

In every situation involving whistleblowers, there are two immediate communications imperatives. First, companies must unequivocally reassure their clients and shareholders, as well as regulators and reporters, that no recriminations against the whistleblowers will ever be made. Second, they must vigorously address whatever problems the whistleblowers have revealed.

Some companies achieve giant head starts. They publicly encourage their employees to be whistleblowers if they think they see serious business or legal problems in the company’s business practices. By encouraging whistleblowers, they pre-cast future crises with themselves as allies to the whistleblowers. A few internal bad actors may wear the black hats but the company itself wears the same white hat as the whistleblowers.