Confidential Employee Hotline:

Promoting Safe and Respectful Workplaces- An Insurance Program for a Healthy Work Environment

The best way to protect your team, brand, and organization from a possible workplace incident or investigation is to be proactive.  Ensuring you have internal preventative and proactive systems in place for your team will help reduce the potential risk for liability and provide a safe and respectful work environment for your employees. Salopek & Associates “Confidential Employee Hotline” is the first of its kind and is part of an overall Safe and Respectful Workplace Strategy.

Through our Hotline, employees may access if they have experienced or witnessed unsafe or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and are unable to report the incident internally due to unsuitable or ineffective channels.  The Hotline is one component of a total Safe and Respectful Workplace Strategy that Salopek’s Clients embrace in order to ensure a culture that is free from unsafe work practices and inappropriate behavior, which includes harassment, bullying, discrimination and violence. The Hotline re-enforces and illustrates to Employees that they are valued and respected by the Client and have recourse.

The Hotline is administered by Salopek and provides Employees an opportunity to either call a Hotline number or send a confidential email to Salopek.  A Senior Consultant on the Salopek Team will respond back to the Employee within 24 hours and book a confidential phone conversation with the Employee to gather pertinent details and information regarding the complaint; as well as provide an explanation of the process.  All contact with the Employee will be held in confidence, except in the event that an investigation is required and/or criminal activity is involved.

When might your employees call the ‘Employee Hotline’?

Employees who need to confidentially report the following:

  • Breaches in Human Rights legislation
  • Breaches in Occupational Health and Safety legislation
  • Breaches in Company policy and procedures
  • Breaches in Company principles
  • Claims related to harassment, bullying, discrimination and violence
  • Criminal offenses
  • Organization’s failure to comply with obligation imposed by Company policy or the Law

Think of our Expect Respect program as an insurance policy for your team to help reduce the potential risk and liabilities that could arise from unforeseeable workplace incidents.

Hotline Process:

The process that Salopek will undertake upon receiving an initial contact through the Hotline will be as follows.  Within the first 24 hours of receiving a call or an email, the Senior Consultant will:

  1. Inform the Client (through a Designated Contact) that an employee has contacted the ‘Hotline’, and that arrangements will be made to follow up with the Employee
  2. Contact the Employee to arrange a confidential phone conversation to discuss the issue and to determine if the employee wishes to file a complaint
  3. Contact the Client to update them as to whether the employee will be filing a Complaint, maintaining confidentiality of the Employee unless: the Employee expresses consent to release their name; an investigation is required; or criminal activity is involved.

Other Components of a Safe and Respectful Workplace Program:

The ‘Employee Hotline’ is one component of a Safe and Respectful Workplace Program offered by Salopek & Associates. Other components of the Program include the following:

  • Review of Policies and Procedures related to Workplace Safety and Respectful Workplace, which will include the following: Occupational Health and Safety, Whistleblower, Harassment and Violence policies.
  • Development of a Communication Plan so all Employees are properly informed of Policies and Procedures impacting a Safe and Respectful Workplace; as well as the availability of the ‘Employee Hotline’ and how to access it
  • Quarterly reporting to the Client on the number and type of ‘Employee Hotline’ complaints 

Pricing of Employee Hotline Program:

The ‘Employee Hotline’ is available for an annual fee and is based on the size of the organization as outlined below:

  • Less than 50 employees – $500/year
  • 50-100 employees – $750/year
  • 100+ employees* – $1000/year

*Rates for employers with more than 200 employees will be assessed dependent on the need

The annual fee provides employees with access to the ‘Hotline’ program via phone or secure email 24/7, year-round, with an assurance that there is expert help and advice to mitigate a stressful workplace situation. This pricing includes the three steps of the Hotline Process as described above; specifically, informing the client that an employee has contacted the hotline; contacting the employee to determine if a complaint is to be filed; and updating the client accordingly.

Pricing of Follow–up and the Mitigation process:

If the Client wishes to engage Salopek to file the complaint after the initial contact; complete the Incident Intake Form; develop an Action Plan; as well provide other components of the Expect Respect Program, Salopek will provide an estimate of the scope and budget required.

Additional Services provided by Salopek & Associates:

  • Occupation Health and Safety coaching and policies
  • Respect in the Workplace Workshops for Employees and Management
  • Investigations
  • Cultural Assessments
  • Coaching and Mentoring on Employee Related Issues

Please feel free to contact Salopek if you require further details.