Here’s what just a few of our clients have to say about Expolink’s whistleblowing service (copies of testimonials available on request).
When working with blue chip clients from very diverse industries on an international basis, you have to provide a fantastic service to meet their exacting demands. Fortunately, when it comes to customer service and the value of the data collected through our whistleblowing hotline, we not only meet our clients’ expectations, we exceed them.
Since we began working with Expolink in 2008, we’ve been hugely satisfied with the level of capability provided by Expolink’s operators and all of the staff with whom we communicate. The service has enabled us to adhere to whistleblowing policies and procedures due to the intricate reporting. We are now looking to roll out this service to all of our third party suppliers to ensure that our code of business conduct is transparent and robust and to ensure that all issues are reported through an impartial and independent party.
Encouraging employees to share their opinions, concerns and ideas are central to the way we operate at Centrica. However, we know that might not always be possible and the service from Expolink provides that important safety net.
We have worked in partnership with Expolink for a number of years. Being able to trust their staff to handle calls from our employees with confidence, whilst being able to empathise, provides us with great reassurance and peace of mind.
Expolink has provided us with an excellent and reliable service, we find their operators to be helpful and well informed. Perhaps the greatest benefit for us is their ability to be able to work in partnership with us. With such an important and sensitive service, it is good to know we can always rely on their discretion.
We have had a relationship with Expolink since 2003, offering an international 24/7 confidential hotline service. We have always found Expolink (and their operators) to act professionally and with discretion, while often dealing with both commercially and personally sensitive issues. We trust Expolink to provide the vital communication link in those situations where our employees feel unable to approach internal contacts. We are very content with the level of capability exhibited by Expolink’s operators and all of the staff with whom we communicate.
The Expolink whistleblowing hotline service was launched to our employees in mid 2004 and supports staff throughout the retail stores, distribution centres and retail support centres. We obviously take shrinkage extremely seriously, being very aware that the products we sell are latest technology and seen as a ‘hot commodity’.
However, having spent twelve years of my working life as a Store Manager, I am able to appreciate the strong camaraderie that exists amongst store staff. Store teams spend a lot of time together, so it can be very difficult to effectively ‘grass up’ a friend. That is why the anonymity that the hotline offers is so invaluable. The majority of people are inherently honest and want to do the right thing.
The whole opportunity of staff being able to remain anonymous, whilst reporting potential breaches of policy, including criminality has aided the identification of theft, which would otherwise possibly have gone unreported. We have had some excellent results from the service.
In my role I am very much swayed towards the security element of the service. Our call ratio shows that 50% of the calls relate to alleged potential breaches of security, whilst the remaining 50% refer to allegations of unfair treatment, harassment and discrimination – HR type issues. Expolink also offers an education, as not everyone on the sales floor would be aware of where to take a particular issue and may of course want to remain anonymous in the first instance. The service works to support our HR policies in that respect. Our organisation covers a whole host of age groups, religions and cultures and I am sure the hotline service also often gets used as an advisory line/sounding board.
Callers to the Expolink Hotline are dealt with by experienced advisors giving the opportunity for two-way interaction. Callers are encouraged to call back after fourteen days for feedback on how the case is progressing, which then allows for further detailed questions to be posed by the person investigating the case.
We communicate the availability of the Expolink Hotline through an ongoing poster campaign and individual wallet cards. By issuing a poster every quarter we keep the availability of the service front of mind. In fact, we always see uplift in calls once a new poster has gone up, or we re-issue the wallet cards. We are just about to launch the Expolink Hotline throughout our European businesses.
The Expolink whistleblowing hotline was launched in November 2003 to all our UK dealerships.
When we were seeking a solution we were looking primarily from an HR perspective as we felt theft, dishonesty and fraud were well dealt with by our accounting and control procedures, we wanted to offer our employees an independent third party should they feel that their concerns could not be raised or dealt with by their local management.
We promote the service in a number of ways; by a wallet card, an introduction letter to all new employees, via our HR managers and by posters in all our dealerships but most importantly via our group induction days which we run for new starters twice monthly and which are always introduced by a director who explains the service. We almost see the service as an employee benefit and use it to emphasise our open culture and part of our aim to be the best company to work for.
Over the past few years’ calls have covered a wide range; from theft to minor grievances but the vast majority have been HR related. We commit to providing feedback via the hotline in 14 days when it is requested and have found the advisors to be very capable of interacting with employees.
Expolink has provided us with cost effective peace of mind that we are making every effort to reach out to employees who feel unhappy or uncomfortable for any reason. It builds upon and is part of our culture that says happy and satisfied employees are a fundamental aspect of our success – it isn’t just a solution to report theft and fraud.
Contact us today to find out how our whistleblowing hotline can help you protect your business. You can also find out what our clients say about our services and read how we helped Centrica, CIMA and The Co-operative Group in our case studies.
