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The Reporting Problem: How to Remove Barriers to Reporting
During investigations following incidents of abuse, it’s common to interview employees and volunteers who share that they had concerns about the perpetrator. Maybe they observed an alleged abuser breaking the rules or violating boundaries, or perhaps they had heard others talking about how that individual made them uncomfortable because of things they said or did. Investigators then ask the obvious follow-up questions: “What did you do next? Did you tell anyone?”
Too often, the response is, “No, I didn’t tell anyone.”
What keeps employees and volunteers from reporting red-flag behaviors, boundary violations, or blatant rule-breaking? No matter the industry, the factors tend to be the same:
- Fear of not being believed, or the inability to believe it themselves.
- Fear of falsely accusing someone of abuse.
- Assumption that no action will be taken.
- Fear of retaliation.
- Lack of training and reinforcement about expectations and rules.
- Lack of awareness of reporting options or feeling constrained by available options.
Reporting Gaps – A Risky Cycle
Ensuring your employees and volunteers are empowered and willing to report policy violations, red flag behaviors, rule-breaking, and abuse concerns is critical to your organization’s consumer protection practices Direct care staff have the most contact with consumers in your facilities and programs and, therefore, are most likely to observe (and stop) potentially unsafe behaviors or situations.
By cultivating a transparent environment in which your organization clearly communicates:
- What behaviors are not tolerated within the organization,
- How inappropriate behavior can and will be reported,
- That action will be taken when reports are made;
you foster a culture in which those behaviors cannot thrive.
The opposite is also true. If inappropriate behaviors are underreported in your organization, this can lead to an environment where abuse — and abusers — can thrive.
Studies have even demonstrated a correlation between underreporting and the prevalence of sexual misconduct. In a 2022 study in the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics examining the phenomenon of underreporting sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, researchers found that individuals underreport misconduct “if and only if misconduct is widespread,” in large part because individuals don’t feel confident that anyone else is reporting or will report – creating the cyclical and all-too-common problem of an “open secret” about inappropriate behavior within an organization, with no consequences.
The same study indicates that the cycle can be encouraged to go the other direction –reporting, leading to more reporting. By raising public awareness of misconduct and taking clear action once a report is made, organizations encourage reporting – making individuals feel more confident and optimistic that their report will be taken seriously and that others will report if they see/experience anything inappropriate.
Overcoming Barriers Through Overcommunication
A 2013 study from the Journal of Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes into the relationship between a supervisor’s ethical leadership and their employees’ willingness to report unethical behavior came to a simple but profound conclusion: “It takes a village.”
Employees need to feel supported not only by their leaders but also by their colleagues. When your culture sets “an ethical tone” at “multiple organizational levels,” it encourages more ethical behavior among employees – including reporting internal concerns.
So, how can you build that village? Lead by example, with targeted and intentional overcommunication.
Culture starts at the top. Leaders should communicate openly about their positive and negative observations and ask their staff to do the same. Then, back up those observations with action to demonstrate that you value feedback and take it seriously.
Employees are more willing to communicate concerns if they are generally used to communicating. Ask staff to share observations about their program/employees/facility, whether good or bad. When staff are accustomed to bringing minor concerns or celebrations up with their leaders, it lessens the pressure when something “big” may arise.
Leaders must be present in their program spaces and frequently check in with staff. By asking staff how they are doing, what’s going well today, or where they’re having trouble, you create a culture where feedback of all kinds is welcome, frequent, and expected.
Actions speak louder than words. If a staff member reports anything, take them seriously. When possible and appropriate, let them know what action you will take because of what they’ve shared.
Take the pressure off reporting “abuse” by talking about boundaries, rules, and maintaining your standards.
Staff – especially young staff — are often afraid of accusing others of being abusers. Reframe the conversation to focus on maintaining your program’s integrity by interrupting and reporting red-flag behaviors and boundary violations. Doing so empowers staff to hold one another accountable without fear of accusing someone of abuse.
In a recent (2024) study in the Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect, researchers interviewed over 1,000 adult survivors of child sexual abuse. They found that 99% of survivors experienced at least one grooming behavior while they were in contact with their abuser, and on average, survivors experienced 14+ grooming behaviors, most of them prior to the abuse incident itself.
Nearly all grooming behaviors are observable actions that would be considered boundary violations in your programs: inappropriate touch, favoritism, gift-giving, secret-keeping, spending time with a child alone when it’s not permissible to be one-on-one, communicating outside of the program (text, social media), etc.
None of those things on their own are considered abuse, but all are red flags that would constitute rule-breaking by your program standards. By interrupting and reporting those behaviors, your organization can mitigate the risk of abuse in your programs by denying potential perpetrators opportunity and access, and by identifying patterns if someone is repeatedly engaging in these prohibited activities.
All reporting mechanisms should be communicated – clearly, often, and in writing.
Employees must have multiple channels for reporting concerns, which include multiple individuals to report to.
Research shows that anonymous reporting mechanisms can encourage reporting unsafe or dangerous behavior among peers by providing feelings of safety for the reporter regarding fears of retaliation, being believed, or being ostracized. Ensure you have at least one anonymous reporting option available, for example, through an online form or a third-party hotline. For anonymous mechanisms, however, you also need to inform staff of the potential caveats (for example, letting an employee know that they may be contacted for additional information or interviewed in case of a further investigation).
Reporting channels should be shared in training courses, in the employee handbook, and posted in your facility and/or on any internal website/app/chat used by your staff.
Use incident and near-miss debriefs as teaching opportunities, sharing learnings widely – especially when your reporting mechanisms work.
For example, you might share at a staff meeting:
A team member let me know that at check-out for day camp this week, parents were getting frustrated that they had to show identification, and a few families left with children without properly showing ID. I’m really glad they brought that incident to our attention because there’s a risk of letting a child leave with someone not on the approved pick-up list. Here’s how we’re going to address that going forward…
This scenario may be relatively low stakes regarding your broader abuse prevention efforts, but you are demonstrating the importance of consistency in your practices. You are sharing to celebrate the win (a team member reporting that consumer protection policies were not followed) and being clear in reiterating the “why” behind the policy (risk of letting a child go with someone unapproved), but not disclosing which employees violated policy by allowing a child to leave without getting proper identification from the parent/guardian. Those conversations will be appropriate to have one-on-one with the employee(s), identifying whether this was a one-off policy miss or part of a larger pattern of rule-breaking.
Create and Communicate Your Reporting Expectations
Reducing barriers to reporting requires creating and communicating your expectations, the available reporting mechanisms, and your commitment to action when employees report.
By establishing a culture where reporting is easy, frequent, and expected, you empower your staff to identify and communicate concerns and reduce the risk of abuse within your programs and facilities.
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If you need support or additional resources to assess or create your reporting policies, mechanisms, or communication plans, Praesidium can help. Contact us or find more information here.