This is one of the lesser known consequences of remote working: the explosion in the number of whistleblowers and denunciations of companies guilty of illegal practices. Looking closer, the tech world has seen many such cases in recent years.
Telecommuters feel less connected to their company
One thinks in particular of Frances Haugen at Facebook who revealed many internal documents which damaged the image of the group of Mark Zuckerberg. More recently, Peiter Zatko reported some disturbing information on Twitter.
These two cases are in fact only the tip of the iceberg, if we believe the figures of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American federal organization of regulation and control of the financial markets.
Thus, the SEC says it received 12,210 information from whistleblowers in 2021, an increase of 76% compared to 2020, and 300% compared to 2011, the year the program was launched. The trend continued again last year with a new record: 12,300 denunciations.
How to explain ? First of all, it seems that employees who work remotely have more time to reflect on their mission and the functioning of their company.
Quoted by Business InsiderMary Inman of Constantine Cannon, who has been representing whistleblowers for 25 years, believes that working from home has reduced employee loyalty to their company: “The risks seem more remote when you’re in a remote environment. »
More isolated, employees therefore feel less connected to a collective and therefore have fewer scruples about revealing a problematic practice within their company. In other words, they feel much less betrayal and there is no one around them to dissuade them from acting.
Europe protects whistleblowers
Faced with these behaviors, leaders react differently. They can take feedback into account to improve things internally. But according to our colleagues, this happens quite rarely. On the contrary, we are rather witnessing the establishment of mechanisms aimed at reducing employees to silence. Surveillance is increasing while legal proceedings have been exploding for several years.
In Europe, and in particular in France, the subject of the protection of whistleblowers has been taken head on by the authorities. A new regulation has also been passed, and this places the old continent as a model for other regions of the world.
