Okuzeka
Human Resources vocabulary · Employee Relations

Whistleblowing

Meaning in human resources, with examples

/ˈwɪsəlˌbloʊɪŋ/nounAdvanced term

In human resources, whistleblowing means: Reporting illegal, dangerous or dishonest activity inside an organisation, such as fraud or safety risks, to managers, regulators or other authorities.

In Turkish: usulsüzlük bildirimi, iç ihbar, etik ihlal bildirimi

How it is used

Companies have a whistleblowing policy and often a confidential hotline. The person who reports is a whistleblower. In many countries the law protects whistleblowers from being dismissed or treated badly because they reported.

Example sentences

  1. You can use the whistleblowing hotline anonymously.

  2. The fraud came to light after a whistleblowing report from the finance team.

Common collocations

  • whistleblowing policy
  • whistleblowing hotline
  • protect whistleblowers
  • make a whistleblowing report
  • code of conductA set of rules that explains how employees are expected to behave at work, covering honesty, respect, conflicts of interest and the use of company property.
  • complianceFollowing the laws, regulations and internal rules that apply to an organisation, and the work of checking that this happens.
  • harassmentUnwanted behaviour that makes a person feel offended, frightened or humiliated, such as insulting comments, threats or unwanted sexual attention.
  • grievanceA formal complaint by an employee about how they are treated at work, for example about pay, workload, a manager's behaviour or discrimination.

More terms: Employee Relations

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: