Sunstone HR (HR Consulting)

By Rod Lacey, MySilentWhistle / Sunstone HR Are you considering implementing a whistleblower hotline? Believe it or not, a whistleblower hotline is actually quite an easy and economical tool to incorporate into your corporate governance. Fraud, waste and abuse can all be detected early by incorporating a system for reporting ethical shortcomings. Additionally, if employees are able to report on wrongdoing anonymously, the organization will learn of the challenges earlier than they would have otherwise. Public companies are required to have a whistleblower program in place to satisfy SOX. However, even if your company isn't public, a hotline can still benefit any organization. In fact, smaller companies suffer more fraud and other wrongdoing than their larger public counterparts, so having a whistleblower program in place makes good business sense. Here are some of the key benefits an organization and employees will experience after implementing a ethics hotline: Learn of...

By Rod Lacey, MySilentWhistle / Sunstone HR According to multiple fraud studies conducted by the ACFE, the most effective method for reducing workplace fraud is the application of an ethics hotline . Hotlines allow and encourage employees, customers and others to report corruption and wrongdoing. Tips received through hotlines are the most common way fraud is uncovered, and the promise of anonymity is an important ingredient in opening the doors for information flow as wide as they should be. So, it definitely makes sense to have a third-party compliance hotline. If you don't have one, you should get one. (If you're wondering where to start, check-out MySilentWhistle ) Rolling out a whistleblower program should be presented in the right way, however, if the organization hopes to get the most out of the new tool. Whistleblowing has had a historical reputation of being a "snitch" behavior, but recent publicity has significantly opened these doors and these ...

By Rod Lacey, Sunstone HR Yes, you heard me right, too much compassion in an organization can create a zombie outbreak. Curious?! Please let me explain. Let’s assume that Roger has been identified for termination, due to work performance. You could also swap-out 'work performance' for a simple layoff and the story remains basically the same. As you sit with the CEO and COO to review how to orchestrate Roger’s departure, the COO identifies that he lives near Roger, and that he knows Roger and his family are going through some hard times. He doesn’t ask to reverse the decision (because it’s a good business decision), but does ask if there is some sort of compassion that could be showed to Roger. What is decided is that Roger should receive what I refer to as a ‘ work-out’ period . Roger will be told that he’s being let go, but given 45 days to remain employed and look for work. The compassionate manager felt that it would be easier for Roger to gain employment i...