DWF is an automated whistleblowing platform that encourages employees of an organization to report to the Senior Management/ Designated Committees; issues and concerns regarding any actual or potential violations of the organization’s Code of Conduct; and any other misconduct, unethical, unlawful or improper practices, acts or activities.

DWF allows the incident reporting to be done confidentially and anonymously (at the employee’s discretion) without fear of reprisal, discrimination or adverse employment consequences from anyone in the organization. Such reporting is commonly and hereafter referred to as whistleblowing.
The “Reporting” can be done through email, post (to a designated PO Box) or through the DWF portal, which is usually hosted on the Organization’s intranet site.

Reportable issues and concerns include, but are not limited to, the following –

1. Financial irregularities or financial frauds
2. Misconduct/ Inappropriate behavior at the workplace, including workplace bullying
3. Sexual Harassment
4. Conflicts of interest
5. Data Protection and Privacy violations
6. Environment, health, safety issues
7. Misuse/ Improper use of company resources
8. Insider trading
9. Disclosure of confidential information
10. Bribery, Dishonesty and theft
11. Discrimination on grounds of gender, race, religion, etc.
12. Drug abuse
13. Alcohol abuse and use of alcohol in violation of Company Policy
14. Possession of a weapon at the workplace.

Typically, the link to access the DWF portal is hosted on the organization’s Ethics site on their intranet. On clicking the link, one can access the DWF portal securely, anonymously and can then follow the instructions there to log in to a confidential report. The process is very simple and structured with online help features.

The submitted report is instantly converted into a secure PDF to prevent any tampering and sent to the designated senior management member or designated committee member who have been appointed by the organization to receive such reports and address them objectively.

The DWF portal must be used strictly to report genuine issues, concerns, improper or illegal acts and behaviors. One should not intentionally file a false/ bogus report, which will be deemed as “misconduct” and the organization has the right to act upon it within the scope of its a disciplinary framework.

You are therefore cautioned not to report the following –

1. employment-related grievances which are typically addressed through other HR-related policies.
2. Report events presenting an immediate threat to life or property. They should be immediately reported to the Unit Head or HR representative.
3. Settle personal disputes or to make accusations which the person knows are false. Doing so may lead to strict disciplinary measures.

Finally, the logged reports must provide sufficient details as per the structure outlined in the reporting template on the portal so as to allow the report to be addressed objectively.