This is a comprehensive guide to the best anonymous reporting tools.
It’s touches on a timely topic because, as I’m sure you know already, most employees choose not to notify their employers of any workplace incidents, misconduct, or unethical behavior.
They choose so simply for the fear of retaliation.
They see those incidents happen. Some are even victims of those.
Yet they prefer to remain silent.
Unfortunately, what’s even worse is that these are legitimate concerns.
After all, research after research reveals the repercussions whistleblowing employees have to endure.
For many, their personal position within the organization gets significantly worse. Some have no other option but to resign. In fact, usually, only a tiny fraction of whistleblowers experience no change in their position.
Luckily, there is a way for your organization to overcome that issue, and allow employees to report any incidents without any fear of retaliation.
That way is to open up an anonymous reporting channel for employees.
Below, I’ve listed 11 absolutely best anonymous reporting tools to help you facilitate that.
Now, before we get to that, though, I think we should take a deeper look at the issue and how anonymous reporting tools help you overcome it…
What is anonymous reporting?
When we use this term – anonymous reporting – we refer to a way for employees to submit whistleblowing reports without revealing their identity.
So, when collecting anonymous whistleblowing reports from employees, not only the organization doesn’t ask for the person’s identity. It also doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information (PII), their IP address, location, and so on.
But of course, for this to happen, the organization needs to use a tool dedicated to collecting truly anonymous feedback and reports.
How anonymous reporting tools facilitate anonymous reporting
Anonymous reporting tools, as the name probably suggests, are software products designed specifically for collecting anonymous feedback and whistleblowing reports.
In fact, most such tools follow three core principles:
Anonymity: Anonymous reporting software is built to ensure that employees can report misconduct anonymously. This means that anonymity is no an option that you can switch off when needed. It is activate all the time.
Confidentiality: What’s more, all reports submitted through such software are kept confidential and only accessible to authorized personnel involved in the investigation. Most tools will also encrypt those reports so that they cannot be accessed by anyone without authorization.
Anonymous Communication: One of the biggest challenges with anonymous reporting is a (potential) lack of any ability to follow-up with the reporter. After all, you don’t know who they are. But you might need to ask further questions about the incident.
Luckily, most anonymous reporting tools provide a way to conduct 2-way anonymous conversations between the reporter and the investigating team while ensuring that the employee’s anonymity is always protected.
This happens because the entire conversation is facilitated by the anonymous reporting tool. No communication happens outside of it, and thus, the software is able to protect the person’s anonymity at all times.
Are anonymous reporting tools truly anonymous?
Yes, and here’s how.
Anonymous reporting tools ensure the anonymity of submissions on several levels – technical, procedural, and legal.
Here’s what it means in practice:
- Anonymous reporting tools use strong encryption protocols to ensure all data is encrypted and remains so during transmission and storage.
- These tools do not log or track the person’s IP address. Many systems also disable metadata that could lead to revealing the person’s location or device details.
- Instead of using personal identifiers, whistleblowers are often assigned random, unique tokens or case IDs. These IDs allow whistleblowers to track the progress of their submission or communicate anonymously with investigators, without ever revealing their identity.
- Similarly, anonymous reporting tools collect only the essential information needed to report the incident.
- Also, because these are 3rd-party tools, they are outside of the company’s internal IT infrastructure, protecting reports from internal scrutiny or manipulation.
- Many platforms maintain a secure, tamper-proof audit trail that documents the handling of reports without exposing the identity of the whistleblower. This provides transparency for regulators or investigators without compromising anonymity.
- Finally, many anonymous reporting platforms for employees are designed to comply with legal frameworks such as the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive, which mandate strict confidentiality for whistleblowers.
11 best anonymous reporting software and tools for you to consider
1. Suggestion Ox – a dedicated anonymous reporting tool
Overview:
Suggestion Ox (disclaimer – this is my product) is a dedicated anonymous reporting tool and whistleblowing software for organizations of all sizes.
We built Suggestion Ox to help organizations provides a secure, anonymous system for people to report workplace violations, misconduct or problems privately and anonymously.
By creating a simple online reporting form, you can provide employees with an anonymous, safe, and private channel to report violations, and other issues they’ve noticed in your organization.
On top of that, Suggestion Ox also features a whistleblower hotline, an easy, safe phone number for reporting violations, one that protects the identify of the employee by disguising their voice and providing recordings and transcripts to the investigating team.
Key features:
- Anonymous feedback
- Anonymous direct replies
- Public anonymous replies
- Complies with GDPR and all whistleblowing protection laws – the European Whistleblower’s Directive, The German Supply Chain Act, etc.
- Custom response form
- Share via link
- Share via QR code
- Web and mobile compatible
- New feedback notifications
- Case management
- AI-powered
- Keyword analysis
- Sentiment analysis
- Whistleblower hotline
- Analytics
- Slack and MS Teams integration
2. SpeakUp
Overview:
SpeakUp is a simple anonymous reporting tool that allows employees notify you of various violations or misconduct privately.
With SpeakUp, your employees can provide their feedback through an online form, a whistleblower hotline, and also, use the SpeakUp mobile app.
As usual for this type of tools, all entries with SpeakUp are end-to-end encrypted, and the platform offers data export to collect insights via Sharepoint or Power BI integrations.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting platform
- SpeakUp app
- Analytics
- Covers all relevant legislation like the European Whistleblower’s Directive, The German Supply Chain Act and GDPR
3. FaceUp
Overview:
FaceUp is a whistleblower software designed to facilitate the reporting a misconduct within organizations and schools.
The platform is compliant with GDPR and all whistleblower protection laws, and its security options ensure the reporters’ confidentiality and protect them against retaliation.
Like most anonymous reporting tools, FaceUp is simple and quick to implement, making it easy for your organization to start collecting reports.
Aside from offering an anonymous online form, FaceUp also offers a dedicated app for reporting misconduct and provides a whistleblowing hotline.
Key features:
- Tailored for schools
- Quick setup
- Compliance with all whistleblower protection laws
- FaceUp app
4. Allvoices
Overview:
AllVoices is more than just an anonymous reporting tool. In fact, the ability to collect whistleblowing reports anonymously is only one of many features you find in the platform.
Overall, Allvoices is an all-in-one employee relations platform with capabilities ranging from anonymous reporting, case management, to conducting pulse surveys, and managing workplace investigations.
The platforms aim is to help organizations streamline the management of workplace issues, from simplifying the investigation to helping with resolving, and even preventing such issues.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting hotline.
- Anonymous 2-way conversations.
- 24/7 whistleblower phone line
5. Whistleblower Software
Overview:
Whistleblower Software is a simple anonymous reporting tool offering all the core features an organization would need to collect reports from employees.
With Whistleblower Software, you can create custom intake forms, conduct two-way anonymous conversations with reporters, manage each case, and more.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting page with the ability to add policies, guidelines, and other documents
- Reporting box shareable by link or QR code
- Safe file upload
- Anonymous two-way communication
- Case management
- Full compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and more.
6. Easywhistle
Overview:
Easywhistle is another anonymous reporting software dedicated to helping organizations provide a safe and anonymous platform for employees to report issues, violations, or misconduct.
What makes Easywhistle unique is that, aside from the typical features you’d expect from such an anonymous reporting tool, Easywhistle also allows organization to remove any identifying information from attachments, manage users, conduct audit trail, and more.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting form.
- Two-way anonymous conversations.
- Attachment anonymization.
- Reporting on KPI figures and notifications.
- User management
- Audit trail, and more.
7. NotMe
Overview:
NotMe, an anonymous reporting tool, has an interesting story behind its inception.
Started by an employment lawyer, Ariel D. Weindling, the company was born of his experiences with employees who were victims of bullying and harassment in the workplace. So, Ariel decided to create a way for people in similar situations to report their issues or challenges to the organization in a safe and secure way.
There is one other thing that differentiates NotMe from the other anonymous reporting tools. Instead of allowing companies to create intake forms, NotMe offers a dedicated reporting app where employees can report any misbehavior they either witnessed or have been a victim of.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting and whistleblowing app
- Case management
- Trends, risks, and patterns detection
- AI-driven insights
8. Elker
Overview:
Elker is an Australian-based anonymous reporting platform, and provides whistleblowing software that allows employees to anonymously notify you of any issues or violations withing the organization.
But Elker also offers other options to collect and manage employee feedback. With the platform, you can also run various types of surveys, conduct case-management, export reports, collect feedback through iOS and Android apps, customize workflows, and more.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting
- Anonymous two-way conversations
- iOS and Android apps
- Case management
- Personalized alerts and notifications
- User roles and permissions
- Pre-vetted question templates
- Evaluation surveys
- Secure report sharing, and more.
9. Falcony
Overview:
Falcony is an anonymous reporting tool that, as the company explains it, aims to “build a safer, happier and more productive workplace.“
Falcony does that allowing anyone in the field to report any issues, concerns, or violations they know of, or have observed, and reveal what they’ve seen to the company.
The logic behind this approach is that with more people involved, you’ll receive more feedback, leading to a happier employees that feel heard.
To do so, Falcony offers three distinct software modules – Platform, Audit, and Observe – that allow you to offer employees a proactive way to report incidents and issues.
Key features:
- Anonymous reporting
- Follow-ups
- Process management
- Notifications
- Localization
10. STOPit Solutions
Overview:
STOPit offers several solutions to help employees report concerns with their organization safely and anonymously – The STOPit Mobile App, STOPit Web, and STOPit Reporting Hotline.
With STOPit, employees can quickly let you know of any issues or violations they’ve observed without the fear of their identity being compromised.
On the organization’s side, STOPit comes with a robust Incident Management System, equipped with tools like real-time alerts, built-in reporting, and direct communication channels with those who submit incidents. This helps streamline investigations, speeding up issue resolution while ensuring all incidents are well-documented when needed.
Key features:
- Anonymous incident reporting
- 2-Way messaging
- Notifications
- Localization
- Case management
- Alerts
- Automated workflows
11. CaseIQ
Overview:
CaseIQ is a complete solution for learning about and addressing workplace incidents. The platform includes not only features to help you collect reports anonymously but also a complete case management solution, centralization of all issues, documentation of all stages of investigation, automated workflows, case reports, and more.
Key takeaways:
- Multichannel, anonymous intake forms
- Centralization of all case documents
- Document change monitoring and management
- Custom workflows
- Case reports
- Advanced data analytics dashboards
- Reporting, and more.
And there you have it…
Eleven of the best anonymous reporting platforms and tools on the market today.
All that’s left for you to do is to review them closely and test the ones that match your requirements.
Good luck!