How can a company evaluate its reporting hotline? The question matters for any organization offering this service.
Evaluating a reporting hotline
A hotline is an important safeguard, but making sure it works is not always simple. Evaluation is part of a broader approach to effective compliance.
There are two main perspectives: how confident people feel using the hotline and how well the company handles the reports it receives.
- Steps for assessing user experience:
- Identify how the hotline is promoted.
- Make nonretaliation and anti-cover-up policies visible.
- Design a survey or other assessment tool.
- Evaluate users' perceptions.
- Steps for assessing case handling:
- Review the strength of the Code of Ethics
- Set dates for receiving, investigating, and resolving cases.
- Assess the integrity of hotline administrators.
- Design an assessment tool.
- Evaluate how cases are managed.
Both approaches can reveal opportunities to improve. Users and administrators need a productive relationship if the hotline is to meet its goals.
The original article offers these example benchmarks:
- A report rate of 1.5%.
- A 90-day response period for each report.
- 40% of cases supported by evidence.
The article presents these as average ranges for a hotline with one or two intake channels, not universal targets. Independent operation may also affect the results.
Ethics pulse surveys can provide another way to assess effectiveness by tracking workplace climate and alignment with organizational values.
You read: How to Evaluate a Reporting Hotline. We also recommend: How an Ethics Hotline Benefits the Workplace Climate