When should I “Speak Up”?
At Savills Investment Management we take whistleblowing very seriously and are committed to independently investigating any allegations raised. If you do see or suspect any malpractice or wrong-doing we want you to tell us about it.
You should use this independent “Whistleblowing” service if you see or suspect:
- Fraud
- Security issues
- Health and Safety
- Data Breaches
- Bribery
- Corruption
- Safeguarding
- Dishonesty (covering up of wrong-doing)
- Bullying, Harassment or Discrimination (where you feel unable to approach your line manager or local HR contact about this matter)
or any other issue that you feel is unacceptable in the workplace and are unable to approach your line manager. The Service is primarily for concerns where the interests of others (in the public interest), or of the business itself, are at risk, whether they are happening now, took place in the past, or are likely to happen in the future.
If you are an employee/worker and your concern is about working with another employee you should consider speaking to your HR contact as a first point of call.
Got a question?
Yes. If you do not tell Safecall who you are they will not know your identity. Even if you make a mistake and accidentally tell Safecall your name they will not pass it on if you do not want them to. Also, Safecall do not audio record any of the calls to help protect the identity of anonymous callers.
When you make a report you will have the choice to do so as:
- Named: You agree that your identity can be passed by Safecall to your organisation.
- Semi Anonymous: You agree to provide your identity to Safecall but you do not want this passing to your organisation. Safecall may contact you to obtain further information if required, using the details you have provided.
- Anonymous: You do not want to provide your identity to Safecall or your organisation.
All concerns raised are received and logged by Safecall, who are independent of Savills Investment Management. Concerns are then passed to the Global Head of Risk & Compliance, confidentially and if requested, anonymously, for investigation.
On receiving your concern, provided you are satisfied with providing your name, you will be contacted by the Global Head of Risk & Compliance in confidence, usually within 3 business days, to acknowledge receipt of your concern. Within 10 business days you will receive confirmation of:
- how it is proposed to deal with this matter
- whether further investigations will take place, or if not deemed appropriate, why this decision has been made
- where an investigation is deemed appropriate, provide a named point of contact during the investigation, and confirm temporary alternative working arrangements (if applicable).
You will receive a progress update within a further 10 working days of the initial enquiries.
In the absence of the Global Head of Risk & Compliance, these matter will be handled by the Global Head of HR.
If you wish to remain completely anonymous, the Global Head of Risk & Compliance will carry out an initial assessment of your report to consider the most appropriate next steps. If an investigation, under the whistleblowing policy, is not deemed appropriate the Global Head of Risk & Compliance will inform you (via the online portal) and, where applicable, provide advice on more suitable methods of investigating your concerns (e.g. if your concern is a personal grievance or complaint, this would normally be dealt with by our HR department).
If an investigation is deemed appropriate, the Global Head of Risk & Compliance will undertake enquiries, but it is likely to be more difficult to investigate your concerns if you remain anonymous. If you do wish to remain anonymous, please ensure you provide a sufficient amount of information to enable your concerns to be properly investigated.
The Deputy Global Head of Risk & Compliance, in consultation with the relevant senior manager in the area about which the whistleblowing concern is raised (where the concern is not perceived to involve them), will determine who will perform the investigation. If there is an actual or perceived risk to the independence and objectivity of the investigation, this will be undertaken in full by a member of the Global Risk & Compliance team or the HR team.
If the complaint is made about a member of the Global Executive Committee (GEC) or Global Strategy Committee (GSC) (not including the CEO), the Global CEO and/or the Deputy Global CEO is responsible for determining the appropriate course of action, including who will perform the detailed investigation, where required.
If the complaint is related to the Global CEO, the Group Legal Director & Company Secretary at Savills PLC will be responsible for determining the appropriate course of action, including who will perform the detailed investigation, where required.
If you have provided your name when filing the report, the investigator will contact you to discuss your concerns in more detail. If necessary, the investigator arrange a virtual or in-person meeting with you to find out all the facts and check any details. You may be asked to give a written statement.
Once the investigator clarifies your concerns, if he/she believes the concerns fall outside this policy you will be advised of the alternative route to follow.
The investigator will keep you informed as to the likely duration of the investigation.
Once the investigation is complete, the investigator will contact you to confirm the outcome, where possible. Because of confidentiality and data protection the investigator may not be able to share details of their findings with you (e.g. where you have chosen to remain anonymous), but they will discuss this with you fully and, where they can, explain Savills Investment Management's decisions. In those cases where the individual making the report chooses to remain anonymous, the progress of the report can be viewed on the Safecall online portal using a secure and confidential log-in.