Compliance-infringements concern us all!

Why should I submit a report?

Compliance with statutory, social and company-internal rules is part of a positive and open company culture.

Perhaps you are aware of damaging behaviour or risks which endanger the company. Your report will help to expose financial losses and image damage in a timely manner, and you will ensure the sustainable success of the company and the continued availability of jobs!

What sort of reports will help your organisation?

Reports about violations of legal and organisation-internal regulations will be recorded and forwarded.

You will receive detailed information on the possible categories of a report during the reporting process.

What is the process for submitting a report? How do I set up a postbox?

To submit an anonymous or personalised report, start by clicking the ”Submit report“ button located at the top of our introduction page.

There are 4 steps to the report process:

1. First, you will be asked to read some information on the protection of your anonymity and to respond to a security query.
2. On the following page, you will be asked about the category of your report.
3. On the report page, you can elaborate on your report in your own words and answer questions about the incident by simply selecting responses. You can type up to 5,000 characters into the free text field, which corresponds to a full A4 page. You may also submit a file of up to 5 MB to support your report. Please do bear in mind that documents can contain information about the author. Following the sending of your report, you will receive a reference number as confirmation that you have forwarded this report.
4. Please subsequently set up your own secured postbox. You will receive feedback from us via this postbox, including answers to questions and information about the progress of your report.

If you already have a secured postbox, you can access it directly via the “Login” button. First, you will have to answer a security query.

As long as you do not enter any data from which conclusions about your person can be drawn, the technology of the BKMS^® Incident Reporting will protect your anonymity.

Please rest assured that we are interested only in the incident you are reporting. Malpractices should be revealed, and financial losses prevented.

How do I receive feedback and remain anonymous at the same time?

The overriding principle of the BKMS^® procedure in use is the protection of the whistleblower. The system’s anonymity privacy function is certified by an independent body.

When setting up your secured postbox, please select your own pseudonym/ user name and password. These login credentials are not visible for anyone but yourself. If you lose your login details, please submit a new report and set up a new postbox. If possible, please provide the reference number of your initial report. As this will be a new postbox, you cannot see the content of your previous report.

Your report is kept anonymous through encryption and other special security routines. If you want to submit your report anonymously, you do not have to provide any personal details. Do not submit any information that can be traced back to you. Please do not use any technical device, for example a PC or smartphone, that has been provided by your employer, to submit your report.

Via the secured postbox, an examiner will provide you with feedback on what is happening with your information or pose questions if details still need to be clarified - you will also remain anonymous during the dialogue. We are interested in reports to avoid damages, not in your identity as a whistleblower.

What do I do if I am subjected to retaliatory measures?

Retaliation against any employee who raised compliance concerns in good faith is strictly prohibited. If you have reason to believe that you have been subjected to retaliation, please notify the Compliance Sections in your company directly or via Tell Us under the category “Other serious infringements”. Knowingly false or misleading information in a Tell Us report will result in serious consequences to reporter(s).

In what way does Hochland evaluate my report?

After your report is received, the Compliance Section evaluates whether an investigation is required. An investigation may be carried out by internal or external investigators. If a department outside the Compliance Department is responsible for handling the issues reported by you, even if it is within one of the reporting categories, your report will be forwarded to that department.

Individuals suspected of compliance violations may be given the opportunity to address the circumstances you described in your report. If necessary, information you provide will be shared with public authorities.

You will be informed when the matter is finalized via your secured postbox. For data protection reasons the company cannot share with you any details regarding the outcome of the inquiry or any consequences that may have resulted.