A clear and structured whistleblowing form is important to prompt people to send complete and reliable notifications. This can save complaints managers a lot of work, and leads to your channel fulfilling its ultimate goal: getting insight into any possible violations that might be damaging your company, customers, or employees. Here we explain some relevant aspects of a good form.
Language use
The
importance of language in a good whistleblowing form comes in three parts.
First, should ensure that the form supports multiple languages, so that your
target group is not limited unnecessarily. Second, the form should be adapted
to the tone in which you usually address your target group. This means that,
ideally, the form should have at least a customizable introduction text. In
this way, you can approach your customers however you prefer. Last, the questions
in the questionnaire should be posed clearly and unambiguously, to avoid confusing
whistleblowers. Having unclear questions could lead to whistleblowers not finishing
up the process of registering their complaint, or of incorrect answers, which in
turn leads to more work for the complaints managers.
Anonymous
Giving whistleblowers the possibility to file their complaints in an anonymous way will guarantee their privacy and security. Users will feel more protected and more free to voice their concerns, which is of course what your channel is all about. Of course, you can also opt for platforms like WhistleForm, which allow you to choose if your users can file anonymous complaints or not. This gives you the freedom to decide what suits your company best.
Whistleblowing Form Design
A responsive design ensures that whistleblowers can notify from anywhere, at any time. Such form should adapt to different screen sizes, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. In addition, even though it might sound trivial, a good whistleblowing form always matches your company branding. This will ensure that your employees, or other target group, feel secure when sending the complaint, knowing that it is being sent to the right place. For instance, think about personalizing the color of your form, to match your company colors, as well as the logo. In addition, the channel title, introductory text and the privacy policy are important to take into account when personalizing your own channel.
When looking for a good whistleblowing channel, you could also take a look at other design aspects. Simplicity, structure and interactiveness are some more examples of design points that will ease your whistleblowers through the notification process.