Anonymous Reporting Mechanisms: Pros, Cons, and Best Practices

Your employees are unhappy. Morale is in the gutter, and you’re not quite sure why. You’ve asked a few employees what’s going on, of course, but they remain tight-lipped. You wonder whether implementing an anonymous reporting mechanism would convince them to spill the beans.

Anonymous reporting has plenty of perks, but some drawbacks as well. Below, learn everything you need to know about anonymous reporting mechanisms: pros, cons, and best practices.

What Are Anonymous Whistleblower Systems?

Anonymous whistleblower systems allow employees to give feedback without revealing their identities. Such a system can be beneficial for employees who fear retaliation or simply those who are too shy or uncomfortable to reveal their identity while giving feedback.

Pros of Anonymous Reporting Mechanisms

In many workplaces, anonymous reporting mechanisms are preferable to transparent ones. Here’s why:

• Employees don’t have to worry about retaliation from their boss or co-workers. Because nobody will know who left the feedback, there’s no fear of losing their job or suffering a demotion.
• Employees can give feedback without hurting the team dynamic. Transparent feedback, on the other hand, can sour the mood of a team if a member figures out who made the report.
• Anonymous reporting gives employees the chance to blow the whistle on illegal and unethical actions. Many employees are unwilling to risk their good name by blowing the whistle, even if doing so would benefit them and the company.

Cons of Anonymous Reporting

Although anonymous reporting can be very helpful, it does have some drawbacks. These include:

• Potential misuse: The vast majority of employees will use an anonymous reporting system as intended, but there are always a few bad apples in the bunch. Some employees may report a teammate simply because they don’t like them. It can be tough to tell whether a report is legitimate or not.
• Investigation complications: What happens if you need additional information from the employee who left the report? With anonymous reporting, there’s no way to know who that employee was.
• Legal issues: Legally, you may be unable to act on certain feedback without the name of the person who left the report.

Anonymous vs. Confidential Reporting

You may think that anonymous and confidential reporting are the same, but this isn’t so. Anonymous reporting allows an employee to completely hide their identity. With confidential reporting, on the other hand, a select few individuals may know the reporter’s identity. This could be their boss, team lead, or the owner of the company.

If you opt for confidential reporting, you must carefully choose who has access to the reporter’s identity. Picking the wrong person could come back to bite the reporting employee. To avoid this, some companies use a combination of anonymous and confidential reporting mechanisms.

Anonymous vs. Transparent Reporting

Transparent reporting is the exact opposite of anonymous reporting. To use this system, employees must reveal their identities.

Transparent reporting can give employers a greater amount of detail and context compared to anonymous systems. With a transparent reporting mechanism, employers can ask the reporting employee follow-up questions to clarify the details of the incident.

The main drawback of a transparent system is that some employees will refuse to use it. You can avoid this by developing an environment of trust and telling employees that they are always welcome to report problems, even major ones, without fear of repercussion.

Best Practices for Anonymous Reporting

At this point in our guide for anonymous reporting mechanisms: pros, cons, and best practices, we want to provide others with a few tips on reporting. Here’s how to do it right.

Clarify the Feedback Process

Before implementing any reporting system, tell your employees how it works. Explain:

• Whether the system is anonymous or transparent
• Who will see the reports
• What information you’ll gather

Once you’ve clarified your feedback process, don’t change it without informing employees.

Ask for Specific Feedback

Non-specific reports are fairly useless as they give you little information to act on. To avoid murky reports, encourage employees to provide details such as:

• Names of people involved in the report
• The date of the incident
• Their exact complaint

Ensuring Anonymity in Reporting

If you do opt for an anonymous feedback system, this can complicate some investigations. How can you substantiate the reporter’s claims if you don’t know their name?

One option is to allow co-reports from multiple employees. This way, two or more employees can co-file complaints, which provides more perspective for you and boosts the report’s credibility.

You could also choose a reporting tool with a case management system. Good anonymous reporting tools allow employees to set up two-way communication and submit a report without revealing their names.

Need Help? Call Kent Pincin

If you’re experiencing workplace harassment, reach out to a workplace harassment lawyer at Kent Pincin at 301-376-0922. Let’s discuss your circumstances and explore how we can assist you in addressing this issue.