Whistleblowers should be applauded instead of vilified, but the concept of coming forward to report something wrong is promoted as a lack of loyalty. It isn’t a disgruntled employee that is the typical whistleblower. It’s someone who has worked for an agency or company for a long time, believes in the mission, and has a good job performance.

Statistical facts that reinforces the essence of a good whistleblowing system:

- Fraud costs a typical company about 5% of its revenues and whistleblowing is the single most common method of fraud detection.
- 1 in 5 corporate fraud cases in large US companies from 1996-2004 was detected by employees and brought forward by a whistleblower.
- An analysis of European fraud cases shows that the percentage of cases that were brought to the attention of a business through anonymous tipping from the employee pool was 25%.
- The percentage of employees who have observed wrongdoing and decide to report it: 65%.

Whistleblowing by its very nature is being more loyal than those who are committing the active wrongdoing in the first place. In a nutshell, six benefits that whistleblowing can bring to an organization are:

1. Combat fraud
2. Avoid reputational damage
3. Prevent issues escalating
4. Minimise losses
5. Raise awareness
6. Create an open culture

Whether it’s to prevent serious harm, reduce losses or build a loyal workforce, the benefits of the Trackimize Complaint Management tool (The Whistler) in any organization are significant, and could be integral to its success.