With Dodd-Frank signed into law by President Obama, understanding what is going on in your organization from a people-perspective is more important than ever. Under the Enhanced Whistleblower Protections, The SEC is now empowered to provide substantial monetary rewards for whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are eligible for rewards of 10 to 30 percent of the collected funds on any sanction over $1 million, providing a significant monetary incentive to proactively cooperate with the government. The inherent risk here is that the monetary rewards are substantial enough to forego reporting of discrepancies or issues to internal company management before approaching the SEC for resolution and ultimately, reward.

It is imperative that companies are able to identify areas of risk vs Dodd-Frank and to rectify any possible situation as fast as possible. This means understanding your employees interactions in real-time – both topically and structurally within your company. Anomalous communications and interactions should be identified and examined proactively and investigated further before much greater liability is incurred. With possible huge payouts, the incentives are all on the side of governmental intervention vs. internal resolution. Vigilance is more important than ever both from the governance perspective as well as the risk management perspective.

Question:

What is your company doing to improve insight into employee interactions and their meaning vs your company’s risk profile?