Works councils are partly responsible for promoting a safe work culture. They also have the necessary rights in this area. This role can be better fulfilled. For example, in following up on employee satisfaction surveys and in setting up and monitoring the whistleblower scheme. Read more.
Earlier this year, Tessa Augustijn of The Code of Conduct Expert and Jonathan Zeijl from Gewoon Jonathan published research on the topic of undesirable behaviour and the works council (OR). They distinguish two types of undesirable behaviour. On the one hand, these are undesirable manners, such as bullying, aggression, violence, discrimination and (sexual) harassment. On the other hand, they may also include integrity violations, such as fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and the like. As a consultative body on behalf of employees, the works council has its own task and role with regard to monitoring a safe work culture. However, many works councils seem easily satisfied when there is a code of conduct, a confidential advisor and a reporting procedure. Is that enough?
Employee satisfaction survey
The authors indicate that an employee satisfaction survey can give the works council good insight into what is really going on in the organisation. Such a survey is carried out in many organisations and often the works council is informed about it or even involved in asking the questions. Yet the questions on social safety are not always specific enough. And the follow-up of the results is sometimes lacking. They are often not distributed in an unambiguous way or it is not clear who will follow up on which points. Works councils can insist that something is done with the outcome of the survey and that a discussion is held about it. This will create a culture that pays attention to social safety and having the right conversation.
Code of conduct
Most organisations do have a code of conduct. Remarkably, in most cases the Works Council does not get involved. Why this is the case is not entirely clear. The discussion with the works council may actually create good support for the code.
Confidential advisor
In about half of the cases studied, the Works Council was involved in the appointment of the confidential advisor and there is a periodic consultation between the confidential advisor and the Works Council. A point to note here, however, is that the Works Council must ensure that confidential advisers are adequately trained and sufficiently visible. Ideally, there should be both an internal confidential counsellor, who is close to the people and knows the situation well, and an external confidential counsellor, who is more distant. Appointing managers or HR staff as confidants is not a good idea, as they can easily give the impression of putting the organisation’s interests first and not the employees’ interests.
Integrity coordinator
Finally, the authors enquired about the presence of an integrity coordinator. However, most of the interviewees did not know what this position entailed. In addition to a proper reporting procedure, many organisations will soon have to appoint someone independent to receive reports from whistleblowers and someone to follow up on these reports. This can also be the same person or department. The works council has the right of consent regarding the reporting procedure, and thus indirectly on the appointment of the integrity coordinator.
The phenomenon of the integrity coordinator is already well-known in many government bodies. In the private sector, this role is often fulfilled by an ethics & compliance officer. In that case, it is important to ensure that this person is sufficiently independent. This is something to be keen on as a works council.
Our perspective
We at The Integrity Coordinator recognise Augustijn and Zeijl’s conclusions. And we are happy to add to them. If it is difficult to appoint an independent and expert integrity coordinator internally, an external integrity coordinator can also be appointed. Furthermore, works councils should receive an annual report from the entrepreneur on the whistleblower scheme. This report can also be a reason to have a good conversation about the whistleblowing procedure, social safety and culture in the company. Yet in our experience, many works councils neither receive this report nor request it. A missed opportunity. We therefore call on works councils to take an active stance here.
The full study can be requested from Tessa Augustijn (post@gedragscode-expert.nl) and from Jonathan Zeijl (jonathan@gewoonjonathan.nl). And if you would like to discuss the integrity coordinator further, please contact us.
