Inside The Mind of a Whistleblower

In 2011, 45 percent of U.S. employees said they had observed misconduct in the previous 12 months. Roughly two-thirds of those who observed wrongdoing reported it. While this is the highest reporting rate we have seen, that still leaves over 20 million members of the U.S. workforce who said nothing. How confident are you that none of those 20 million work at your company? What can—what should—you do to ensure that you will know about problems before hearing about them in the paper or online? How can you improve reporting rates at your company and drive down your reputational risk? What goes through employees’ minds when deciding whether and where to report? What happens inside the mind of a whistleblower?