According to the survey, the most significant factor in whether an employee reports misconduct they have witnessed is whether they believe it will work out well for them, according to Chris Audet, senior director of research in the Gartner legal, risk and compliance practice.

“It may surprise many compliance leaders to know that just 54 per cent of employees felt that reporting misconduct is the right thing to do. Employees understand it is what they are supposed to do but, in many cases, they aren’t sure that doing so will work out well for them or their teams, so they choose to keep quiet,” he said.

“Compliance leaders typically focus on driving trust in reporting and emphasizing anti-retaliation policies. But often highlighting the ways that a speak up culture can benefit individual employees or their teams is overlooked. And this is the most important factor driving a decision to report.”

Whilst compliance policies often assume employees will report misconduct because it is the right thing to do, the survey showed that employees tend to take a more pragmatic, rather than idealistic, approach to reporting and only pursue it if they see no harm or even some personal benefit to themselves.

“Compliance leaders need to drive the pragmatists to report too,” Mr Audet added.

“Instead of assuming all employees will be compelled by the moral value of reporting, companies need to build a value proposition for reporting. That is a shift from what many compliance leaders have emphasized in the past.”

According to the report, the value proposition — what will drive an employee’s personal responsibility to report — has three core components to it: trust, safety and benefit. Trust and safety in reporting are areas that are routinely addressed by compliance already through such things as anti-retaliation policies. However, compliance teams rarely create or emphasise a personal benefit for the individual reporting or their teams.

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Furthermore, only a third of those surveyed believe reporting will lead to a better work environment or improve their team’s morale or performance. Just over one in five employees think reporting will be good for their career.

“Addressing the benefit of reporting is a big untapped opportunity for compliance leaders,” Mr Audet explained.

“It is the biggest single factor driving a sense of personal responsibility to report, yet employee perceptions in this area are typically negative. It is rarely a prominent component of speak up messaging from compliance teams.”