Whistleblowers Don’t Know Where to Go

The Public Interest Commissioner today released Identifying Barriers to Reporting Workplace Wrongdoing, the results and analysis of a comprehensive 2024 awareness survey of Alberta’s public sector employees.

This survey is the largest research project undertaken by the Public Interest Commissioner’s office to-date, generating 4,335 completed responses from a random survey of as many as 320,000 public sector employees. The sample size provides a high level of statistical reliability for insights into the population, measuring the awareness and perceptions of public sector whistleblowers' rights and protections2.

Public sector employees in Alberta have avenues for reporting workplace wrongdoing and their protections under the law have been in place for more than a decade. Policies and procedures are essential to create a safe environment for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing without fear of reprisal. Yet, this survey tells us resoundingly that most employees don’t know or are unsure about whistleblower policies or their protections.

Part of the Public Interest Commissioner’s commitment to Alberta’s public interest is bridging this gap in awareness, so that public-sector employees know their rights and their protections. Learn more about these rights and protections today at yourvoiceprotected.ca.

[1] The Public Interest Commissioner ("PIC") administers the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act ("PIDA").

[2] Statistically significant, providing a confidence level of 95 percent, a Z-score of 1.96 with a margin of error of +/- 1.48 percent. Based on a total of 4,335 completed responses from a random survey of a potential population of 320,000 public sector employees.