Whistle Blowers Unite

One of the leading stories in the Chicago Tribune today is about a survey the City of Chicago conducted of city workers about their workplace environment. From the article:

Chicago city workers are less likely to report job-related misconduct than their counterparts elsewhere, largely because they don’t believe the problem will be fixed and they fear retaliation from bosses, a new survey by Mayor Richard Daley's hiring compliance office reveals.

The snapshot into City Hall work culture found that Chicago employees report only one out of every two instances of misconduct that they witness. Workers for other local governments, however, were more likely to disclose on-the-job wrongdoing, reporting two out of every three instances of misconduct.

We've been talking about Inkling as an effective tool in any risk manager's arsenal for awhile now. With Inkling, risk managers understand a) the probability of a risk factor occurring, b) the reasoning behind why people feel this way, and c) an understanding of who is good at forecasting certain types of risk.

An effective risk management program depends on awareness, prioritization, and the ability to effectively carry out the right mitigation strategy. Understanding what is really going on on the ground is a lynchpin. Government and corporate employees alike need a safe harbor to reveal information without the fear of retribution, otherwise any risk management strategy will fail. A prediction market can play that role.