How Auchan retail rebuilt its whistleblowing system to strengthen trust and risk detection

On the occasion of the adoption of the new requirements brought by the European Directive for the protection of whistleblowers, Auchan has taken the decision to overhaul its whistleblowing process by adopting an approach that ensures fairness in the treatment of reports, a better knowledge of the risks of each entity as well as adequate support for teams managing few alerts.

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Maintaining a Dialogue with Whistleblowers

Auchan faced several problems with their previous whistleblowing system: a large number of poorly handled alerts, an unintuitive reporting platform, and a less-than-optimal treatment process. The process Auchan had set up before the redesign certainly allowed whistleblowers to launch an alert, but it was difficult to follow up due to the fact that informants tended not to reconnect to the platform.

Auchan had also chosen to decentralize the treatment of alerts, giving independence to each entity to deal with their own problems, but it lacked transparency and required a dedicated expert for each one. On the other hand, Auchan continues to evolve on a global scale in a constantly changing legislative environment.

These obstacles to the proper functioning of the system, beyond the legal dimension and respect for laws, represent an increased risk of loss of trust among employees and endangers whistleblowers.

Auchan has observed that the previous whistleblowing system was not intuitive enough for employees and came to the conclusion that there was a real obstacle to the detection of risks within the organisation. The dialogue was difficult to maintain between the whistleblower and the manager, case manager, and almost 30% of the alerts received could not be properly treated due to a lack of sufficient information provided by the whistleblowers.

For Auchan, the redesign of the whistleblowing process is in line with a deeply held belief that the procedures for collecting and handling reports are a key element of good governance and reflect a healthy corporate culture.

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A Solution Designed for Whistleblowers

Following the findings of the previous whistleblowing system, Auchan decided to turn to Whispli.

With the guiding principle of facilitating reporting for whistleblowers, increasing risk detection, and eliminating malfunctions at the source, the choice of an internet platform associated with a smartphone app allows Auchan to facilitate real-time exchange with its whistleblowers.

The intuitive reporting experience offered by Whispli allows for real maintenance of the discussion, notably thanks to the inbox system, allowing for easy reconnection, drafting before reporting, and communicating in real-time via the platform.

In addition, Whispli offers high security ensuring compliance with all legislative restrictions and requirements, including in Russia and China. Automations are also a considerable asset for the company and for compliance with ever more demanding regulations, especially with the new provisions of the European Directive.

Some of Whispli’s features have played a key role in removing the obstacles encountered by Auchan, including:

• A safe inbox, allowing whistleblowers to choose their logins and easily reconnect in order to follow the processing of their alert, complete the information provided, send attachments if needed, and save drafts before sending their report
• A smartphone application that facilitates real-time exchanges between whistleblowers and case managers
• An intuitive, high-performance, and highly secure platform, making the procedures accessible to all