Empowering Employees to Speak Up Through Whistleblowing Mechanisms

In 2020, the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE), a partner of Investing in Women, developed case studies to document experiences of human resource leads and employees and provide significant accomplishments and improvements on the implementation of Workplace Gender Equality (Workplace Gender Equality) initiatives of select PBCWE member companies. This case study, in particular, discusses how the Philippine National Bank (PNB) has strengthened its whistleblower policy. This policy plays a big role in ensuring that employees regardless of rank or gender, to speak up without fear and report on violations of company policy.

Employees are the lifeblood of any business. Performing day-to-day operations, employees can be a source of innovation and ideas for improvement. Knowing the ins and outs of the company, they are well-positioned to spot any issue and take action before it escalates. At the Philippine National Bank, employees are seen as key contributors to the achievement of business objectives. As the company endeavours to improve its corporate governance and risk management, it has set up additional whistleblowing mechanisms to give employees a voice in reporting actions contrary to company policy. PNB’s new whistleblower policy was created to ensure the confidentiality and protection of the whistleblower, include anti-retaliatory provisions, and enumerate procedures for reporting and investigation.

This case study was originally published on the PBCWE website.