TIS: Private Companies to Offer Helping Hand to Whistleblowers

Bratislava, May 21 (TASR) – More than 400 private companies have committed themselves to helping whistleblowers who lose their jobs due to reporting corruption at work, TASR learnt on Monday.

The companies have joined the Backing the Bold Ones initiative, which has been launched by Transparency International Slovakia (TIS) in cooperation with the Pontis Foundation and the Club of Goodwill Clerks.

“They’ll offer clerks who lose their job as a result of reporting corruption either an interview at their companies … or they’ll provide them with coaching, counselling and requalification for a future career,” said coordinator of the initiative Zuzana Hlavkova of TIS.

TIS director Gabriel Sipos said that Slovakia is among the countries with the lowest levels of willingness to report corruption within the EU. “Only four out of ten Slovaks would do so, compared to two thirds of people in the EU,” he said. According to Sipos, Slovaks aren’t keen on reporting corruption because they don’t believe that the police will investigate the case correctly and they also fear sanctions, including the possibility of losing their job.

The firms that have so far joined the initiative employ around 140,000 people and are among the top 20 employers in Slovakia. Other companies can still join the initiative via the TIS website.