You may inform employees about the reporting procedure yourself. There is no legal requirement that this be done by an external party or a lawyer. What is clear, however, is that employees must know about the procedure: they must be aware that a reporting channel exists, how they can make a report and what happens to their report afterwards. How you organize this is up to you.
The boundary is not about who communicates it, but about what is communicated. A short email with a link to a reporting page is often not enough to demonstrate that employees are actually informed. The procedure itself, the process, the deadlines and the method of reporting should be findable and understandable, for example in the employee handbook, on the intranet or during an induction meeting for new employees.
What you can do yourself
Many employers choose to handle the information themselves, alongside setting up the channel with an external party. That is a logical division: knowledge about your own organization, the internal communication channels and the tone that fits your company are usually already with the HR department or management. You know your employees and understand which format will resonate, whether that is an intranet message, a team meeting or a standard part of onboarding.
Where things often go wrong is with repetition. Informing employees once when the procedure is introduced is a good start, but new employees must receive the same information, and the existing group benefits from an annual reminder. A reporting procedure that no one remembers anymore does not function in practice, even if it was once properly posted on the intranet.
Where outsourcing does make a difference
What you do not need to figure out yourself is the content of the information: which deadlines apply by law, what must precisely be included in the procedure and which elements are mandatory for the works council. That is where a hosted platform takes the work off your hands: the procedure, the deadlines and the information kit for employees are delivered ready-made, so you only need to ensure that the message reaches the people on the shop floor.
That distinction, the content that is correct versus the communication that resonates, is also why "doing it yourself" and "outsourcing" do not have to be opposites. Most employers do both: the channel and the text of the procedure come from a platform, the internal communication comes from them. On the knowledge base with explanations on each topic signalo.eu you will find what should actually be included in the information provided to employees.
What employees must know at minimum
Employees must know that they can report both in writing and orally, that anonymous reporting is possible if the employer has arranged it that way, and that they can return with a case code to follow progress. The deadlines should also be mentioned: receipt confirmation within a set period and feedback on the assessment within the legal deadline after that. This does not have to be legal text; a clear, brief explanation in plain language is sufficient.
Whether your information provision is currently complete can usually be checked in a few minutes. With signalo.eu the free check of whether the obligation applies to you and what must then be in place you will quickly see if any elements are missing, without needing an account.
Document what you have done
Regardless of who communicates it, it is advisable to document when and how workers have been informed: the date of a message, the agenda of a staff meeting, or the moment the information was provided to new workers. This is not a legal obligation in itself, but it does make it clear whether the arrangement is functioning within the organization, something that both the works council and a supervisory authority may ask about.
Would you like to know how signalo.eu provides the procedure, the deadlines and the information kit, and what is free and what is included in a subscription? Then view how the platform is structured or go directly to an overview of subscriptions.
Are you unsure whether your current way of informing is sufficient, or would you simply like to see what needs to be arranged for your organization? Take the free quick-scan or read the other topics in the knowledge base, without needing to log in.