The Whistleblowing channel lets your employees and people outside the company report wrongdoing (harassment, fraud, a safety risk…) confidentially, either with their name or anonymously, in accordance with Law 2/2023. Each report arrives as a case with a case code and a 3-month response deadline (which can be extended by up to 3 more months).
The Whistleblowing channel is available for accounts with Team PRO. To view cases you need permission on Employees; to configure the channel and manage cases, you need full permission.
Activate the channel
While the channel isn’t active, your employees won’t see it in My Area and nobody will be able to submit reports.
Go to Settings > HR > Employee Area.
In the Whistleblowing channel block, check Activate whistleblowing channel.
In Who receives notifications, choose the people who will manage the channel. We’ll notify them by email of every new report and every reply from the reporter.
Click Save.
Once you save, the Link for external parties appears. Click Copy and share it with suppliers, customers or former employees, or publish it on your website: they don’t need a Holded account.
If you click Create a new link, the current link stops working immediately. If you have it on your website or in documents, you’ll need to update it.
View received reports
Go to Team > Employees.
Click Whistleblowing channel, at the top of the page.
The inbox shows all cases with their Code, Subject, Category, Identity (Anonymous or Named), submission date, Deadline and Status. The Response time column tells you how many days are left to respond, and turns red when there are 7 days or fewer left, or when the case is Overdue.
Use the status filter to see only Received, Under investigation, Resolved or Archived cases. Click a case to open its details.
From the ⋮ menu in the inbox you can also open the Channel settings.
Understand case statuses
Received: the report has just arrived and is pending review.
Under investigation: the responsible team is investigating what has been reported.
Resolved: the investigation has finished and the reporter has received the outcome.
Archived: the responsible team has decided not to proceed with the report and the reporter has received the reason.
Resolved and Archived are final statuses: the case can no longer be reopened.
Investigate and close a case
In the case details you’ll see who submitted it (or Anonymous reporter), the submission date, the response deadline, What happened and the Attachments, which you can download.
Click Start investigation and confirm with Begin investigation. The case moves to Under investigation.
When you’re done, click Resolve.
Write the Outcome (the reporter will see it).
Click Mark as resolved.
If the report doesn’t warrant action, click Archive, from either Received or Under investigation. Write the Reason (the reporter will see it) and confirm with Archive.
The outcome and the reason are mandatory and are added to the case messages: the reporter will read them when checking their report.
Talk to the reporter
In Messages you can ask for more details or give updates on the case, even if the report is anonymous.
In the case details, write in Message to the reporter.
Click Send message.
If the report isn’t anonymous and the reporter provided their email, they’ll receive an email with every message and every status change. If it’s anonymous, they won’t receive any notification: they’ll read your message when they check their case with their code and access key.
Extend the response deadline
Each case must be resolved within 3 months of submission. If the investigation needs more time, you can extend it by 3 more months, once only.
In the case details, click Extend deadline.
Review the new deadline and write the Reason.
Click Extend until [date].
The deadline is marked as Extended and the reporter will see the new date and the reason when checking their case.
Submit and follow up on a report
Report wrongdoing confidentially and check the status of your report.
The Whistleblowing channel lets you report something that isn’t right at the company (harassment, fraud, a safety risk…) confidentially, with your name or anonymously. When you submit it, you’ll receive a case code and an access key to follow it up and talk to the responsible team. Keep them somewhere safe: they can’t be recovered.
Only the people who manage the channel can read your report. If you submit it without your name, Holded doesn’t link it to your account and HR can’t see who sent it.
Submit a report
Go to My Area > Whistleblowing channel.
Click Submit a report.
Leave Submit anonymously turned on, or turn it off and enter Your name and Your email.
In What is it about?, choose a category.
Write a one-sentence Summary and, in Tell us what happened, explain what happened, when, where and who was present.
If you have evidence, click Attach evidence (optional). You can upload up to 5 PDF or image files (JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP) of up to 17 MB each.
Click Submit report.
If you give your name, the responsible team will see your name and email, and we’ll notify you by email of every update.
Save your code and key
After submitting the report you’ll see your Case code and your Access key. You’ll need them to follow up on the report and talk to the responsible team.
Copy both and keep them somewhere safe.
Check I have saved the code and key somewhere safe.
Click Done.
The key is only shown at this moment and can’t be recovered. If you lose it, you won’t be able to access your report again, but you can submit a new one and mention your case code.
Follow up on your report
Go to My Area > Whistleblowing channel.
Click Follow my report.
Enter your Case code and your Access key.
Click View my report.
You’ll see the status of your report (Received, Under investigation, Resolved or Archived) with a brief explanation, the submission date and the date by which you’ll receive a response. If the responsible team extends the deadline, you’ll see the new date and the reason.
When the report is resolved or archived, the responsible team will explain the outcome or the reason in the messages.
Talk to the responsible team
The responsible team may write to you to ask for more details. Their messages appear in Messages, within your report.
Open your report with your code and key.
Write in Write to the responsible team.
Click Send message.
If you submitted the report anonymously, you won’t receive email notifications: check in from time to time with your code and key to see if there are new messages.
Report without using your Holded session
From My Area you submit the report while logged in. If you want more discretion, use the channel’s public page, which doesn’t require a Holded account.
In My Area > Whistleblowing channel, copy the link to the public page.
Open it in an incognito window.
Submit or follow up on your report just as you would from My Area.
When you’ve finished checking your case on the public page, click Log out so your code and key don’t remain on screen.
People outside the company (suppliers, customers or former employees) use this same public page via the link the company shares.