Hotlines Proving to be Successful

Until recently the value of hotlines has been subject to debate. Some companies have implemented hotlines half-heartedly, simply as a means of compliance. Others view their hotline as an earnest response to the call for corporate integrity and responsibility. So is it really necessary to have a hotline? Does a hotline really generate the right information to uncover fraud?

The 2006 Corporate Governance and Compliance Hotline Benchmarking Report is a detailed review of nearly 200,000 corporate hotline reports. The Report, as stated by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), compares hotline data from 550 organizations over a four-year period, resulting in a never-before-seen analysis of a specific reporting tool. The Report also reveals how companies are using hotlines, the kinds of issues they are uncovering and the level of severity of these issues. The main takeaway for companies: when it comes to uncovering fraud, hotlines really do work.

Overall, the Report enables companies to compare their hotline results against similar organizations. The data are broken down according to specific variables such as industry, issue type and company size. Among the Report’s major findings are:

• 65% of reports warranted an investigation. This result indicates that hotlines are uncovering severe issues. The greater the number of reports warranting investigation, the higher the level of risk and the more valuable and effective the overall hotline program is.

• 10% of reports involved corruption or fraud. This finding illustrates the value of a hotline, especially when considering the potential cost of a single act of fraud, which has a median cost of $159,000 per case.

• Corrective action was taken in nearly half of all cases. While the decision whether or not to investigate varies by organization, this finding suggests that hotline reports are helping companies investigate and respond to reports of misconduct. The ability to take corrective action in itself indicates that hotlines are generating valid information.

• In 71% of cases, hotline reports were the first notification of issues. This result suggests that participants prefer not to bring up issues with management face-to-face, which may be the preferred reporting method for some organizations.

• Nearly 54% prefer to remain anonymous. Although anonymity was preferred, people were more likely to give their names when reporting corruption and fraud. Despite the sensitive nature of fraud reports, this finding may indicate that whistleblower protection laws are causing people to feel more comfortable reporting these issues. A higher than average number of anonymous reports may indicate a fear or reprisal or lack of trust that confidentiality will be protected.

According to the 2006 ACFE Report to the Nation, fraud is most likely to be detected through a tip than by any other means, and organizations with fraud hotlines reported losses half the size as organizations lacking a similar reporting mechanism. Despite these findings, hotlines rank only fourth among preferred anti-fraud measures.

Reproduction (in part) of this article with permission from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Andi McNeal, “Hotlines Offer New Insights into Success,” Fraud Examiner, June 2007, available here.

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Bilingual Employees in the 21st Century

With Spanish clearly established as the unofficial second language in the US, it is vital that employers have a workforce with bilingual skills to enable better customer service, improve communication between employees, and reduce translation costs.

Although the U.S. Senate recently passed an amendment to the immigration bill making English our ‘national’ language, Spanish is clearly poised to become even more prominent in the U.S. in the coming years. In the year 2000, there were over 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide and 28 million of those people live in the US, according to the 2000 Census. Only seven years later, the US population of Spanish speakers is closer to 40 million.

With the Spanish speaking population growing exponentially in the United States, the need for employees who can communicate with co-workers and customers in both English and Spanish must grow as well. As companies struggle to accommodate these shifting demographics, some techniques are proving to be very cost-effective and successful.

Offering in-house foreign language classes to employees can be an extremely beneficial long-term approach for companies. Other organizations are opting to pay for some employees to earn college credit to learn their non-native language.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, a Denver based restaurant chain, launched a program several years ago to teach their Spanish speaking employees better English. Their free program was so successful Chipotle had a large number of English speaking employees signing up to learn Spanish so that they could better communicate with their co-workers and their Spanish speaking customers.

Some companies find success by offering training targeted just for their specific industry so employees understand key words and phrases they may need to know in their particular field. Bilingual employees, who are qualified, can also help cut down on costs to translate materials such as safety manuals, policies, and other company literature.

It is best to evaluate your business needs before seeking out bilingual employees or paying for classes. But, with the Spanish speaking population growing rapidly, it is important to consider the internal and external benefits of a bilingual work force.

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Job Burnout: Not just for Cops and Nurses Anymore

Some level of stress naturally exists in all workplaces. However, in today’s world of mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, and uncertainty, job-related stress may be at an all-time high. How do you know when you have reached the point of burnout? Burnout certainly has its roots in stress and, in fact, results from prolonged and excessive exposure to stress that results in emotional and physical exhaustion. Burnout typically leaves you feeling hopeless, fatigued, and frustrated.

As mentioned earlier, stress is a natural fact of today’s workplace. But there are important distinctions between stress and burnout. Stress is characterized by over engagement in the work you are doing; burnout, on the other hand, results in disengagement and detachment from your responsibilities. Stress produces a sense of urgency and hyperactivity where burnout leaves you with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, blunting your productivity and efficiency. Stress depresses your physical energy level; burnout exhausts your motivation and drive. Clearly, burnout is a state of emotional and physical depletion, which typically interferes with the success of both your work life and your personal life, often damaging important interpersonal relationships.

Identification of burnout is critical to your ability to manage and diminish it. Focus on changing the sources of your stress. Sometimes, simply talking with your supervisor about altering your job responsibilities can go a long way in alleviating the exhaustion produced by burnout. Other times, you may need to consider switching jobs or careers entirely to find the relief you need. However, the often most effective method for reducing the impact of burnout is to take time to relax and nurture the relationships that are most important to you.

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