Whistleblowers are rarely rewarded for their action, even if it results in circumventing significant fraud. As such, if you plan to blow the whistle, try to do so anonymously. Don’t expect any person to protect your identity – even if they promise to do so. Upper management often requires disclosure of the whistleblower’s identify in order to give the whistleblower’s claims any creditability.
Even those who are supposed to protect whistleblowers, who should be motivated to protect whistleblowers because the whistleblower saved their behinds, turn their backs on a whistleblower for several reasons. Some of this is driven by upper management. Upper management rarely appreciates or trusts narks. Plus, businesses are reluctant to take any action that can be perceived as rewarding a whistleblower for blowing the whistle, which translates into lost promotions, worse performance evaluations, and smaller raises and bonuses. To disguise the identity of the whistleblower or to avoid the appearance of favoritism, often managers will treat the whistleblower with deliberate disregard. Any person directly or indirectly involved in the crime is incentivized to go out of his or her way to make things very difficult for the whistleblower, even if canned as a result of the crime.
Tuition Paid, Lesson Learned 