Keith Read on Retaliation Risk [Podcast]

By Adam Turteltaub

Retaliation is the bane of every compliance program, with the potential of destroying employee confidence in reporting systems, not to mention embarrassing and expensive lawsuits.

It is also complex and can be subtle, explains Keith Read, a former chief ethics and compliance officer and author of the book The Unconventional Compliance Officer: Doing Things Differently. There is overt retaliation, such as firing an employee for blowing the whistle. But there is also softer, more subtle retaliation, such as not including the whistleblower in meetings or on projects.

He advises compliance teams to be sensitive to all of the many forms of retaliation and to treat it  as a risk area. That means look at where and how retaliation can occur, and then take the time to determine if is occurring. Track how the careers of whistleblowers go and see if the trajectory has changed for the worse. Also, look to patterns in management.  He found that retaliation followed certain managers around the organization.

With this data in hand, you are better able to both support the whistleblower and foster a stronger culture of compliance. Listen in to learn more about how to prevent retaliation from undercutting your compliance program.

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