Employees are more likely to notify management of problems if they believe management wants to be told about wrongdoing and will address the issues raised, the Merit Systems Protection Board has said in a new report.
The report compares survey data from 1992 and 2010 and concludes that while the percentage of employees that perceive wrongdoing has decreased, one third of individuals who felt they had been identified as a source of a report of wrongdoing also perceived either threats or acts of reprisal, or both.
MSPB called on agencies to create cultures where employees will believe that supervisors and managers want to be told about wrongdoing and want their employees to come forward to report any basis for a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing without requiring absolute proof of wrongdoing.
Agencies should foster a culture where valid reports of wrongdoing result in positive changes, and in which employees will not be shunned or punished for reporting problems, MSPB said.
It said also called on agencies to improve the quality of employee training about how to make a disclosure, an employee’s right to not experience retaliation or threats of retaliation, and how employees can exercise that right, saying too many employees report not receiving training of this kind even though it’s required by law.
