For fair cooperation

Why should I submit a report?

Die Wiener Volkshochschulen stand for a positive, open and correct company culture, where appreciation and respect for people, institutions and laws are taken seriously. This includes compliance with statutory, social and company-internal rules.

On the one hand, this is important to prevent corruption and avoid economic damage. On the other hand, it is also about creating a safe and positive working and learning environment for our employees and customers that is in line with our mission statement and the values to which we are committed. In addition to legal requirements, this also includes a consensus against any form of discrimination, bullying or violence at our locations.

You might be aware of behaviour that may cause harm to Wiener Volkshochschulen or its employees, that violate internal regulations or pose a risk for the company and its reputation. If so, we ask you to contribute to the prevention or timely detection of malpractice by submitting a report. With your report, you contribute to VHS continuing to be a successful company, a reliable partner of the City of Vienna and a good employer.

Who can submit a report?

In accordance with legal requirements, persons who work for us or who are or have been in contact
with us in the course of their professional activities may submit reports. These are:

• Employees
• Freelancers, Self-employed
• Applicants, Interns
• Suppliers, Subcontractors
• Members of administrative, management or supervisory bodies

What kinds of reports are useful to VHS?

Reports about violations of legal regulations and internal company rules will be recorded and processed. The following topics and incidents are relevant for reports in the whistleblowing portal:

• Violations of internal compliance guidelines and employee policies
• Violation of the Austrian Data Protection Act and the GDPR
• Discrimination, harassment, bullying
• Document forgery
• Theft and vandalism
• Irregularities in procurement/purchasing and conflicts of interest
• Property crimes such as breach of trust and fraud

Here are a few examples of topics and incidents that are NOT relevant for reports in the whistleblowing portal:

• Minor violations of labour law (e.g. incorrect clocking out and clocking in, arbitrary decision on overtime build-up.)
• Personal issues
• Criticism of management decisions
• Internal conflicts
• Personal accusations from colleagues and supervisors that cannot be proven

If you are not sure whether your report is suitable, don’t worry: You will receive detailed information on the possible categories of a report during the reporting process.

What is the process for submitting a report? How do I set up a postbox?

You can send a report either by name or anonymously. To do so, click the "Submit report" button located at the top of our introduction page.

The reporting process consists of four steps:

1. First, you will be asked to read some information on the protection of your anonymity and answer a security query.
2. On the following page, you will be asked about the category of your report.
3. On the report page, you can elaborate on your report in your own words and answer simple multiple-choice questions about the case. In the free text field, you can write 5,000 characters, which corresponds to a full A4 page. You may also submit a file of up to 5 MB to support your report. Please bear in mind that documents may contain information about the author. This means that, if you are submitting an anonymous report, you must ensure that there is no reference to your identity in the file information so that your anonymity is protected. After submitting your report, you will receive a reference number to confirm that you have sent this report.
4. After this, please set up your own secured postbox. For this, you must select a pseudonym or user name and a password. Finally, click on the “Set up postbox” button.

We can communicate securely via your secured postbox. This means we can answer your questions, ask you questions and inform you about the progress of your report – without jeopardising your anonymity. If you already have a secured postbox, you can go straight to it via the ‘Login’ button. Here, too, you will have to answer a security query first.

As long as you do not enter any data that could reveal your identity, BKMS^® System will protect your anonymity.

In some cases, submitting a report by name may be useful and necessary in order to investigate the case. If you submit a report by name, please rest assured that we are only interested in the case you are reporting.

How do I receive feedback and remain anonymous at the same time?

Our whistleblowing portal (BKMS^® System) places the utmost importance on protecting the whistleblower. The effectiveness of the anonymity protection function has been certified by an independent body.

When you set up your secured postbox, you choose your user name and password yourself. These credentials are not visible to anyone except yourself. Your report is kept anonymous through encryption and other specialised security measures. You do not have to provide any personal information if you submit a report anonymously. Do not submit any information that contains any reference to you. Where possible, please do not use any device, such as a PC (Citrix) or smartphone, that has been provided by Wiener Volkshochschulen to submit your report.

Via the secured postbox, an examiner will give you feedback about what is happening with your report or ask you questions if some details are still unclear – you will continue to remain anonymous throughout the dialogue. We are interested in reports so that we able to react to malpractice, not in you as a whistleblower.

What happens if I forget or lose my login information for my postbox?

As your login information is not stored, please submit a new report and set up a new postbox if you lose your login information. If possible, please provide the reference number of your previous report. The new postbox will not contain anything associated with your previous report.