Informing employees about the reporting scheme usually requires no separate budget, but it does require time and a number of fixed components: clear information about the channel, a place where that information remains accessible, and a moment when new employees see it. The costs are therefore not a single amount, but the sum of materials, internal hours and repetition.
Organizations that set it up themselves invest primarily in time spent writing clear explanations, coordinating with the works council and maintaining it as changes occur. Organizations that use a ready-made information kit pay a fixed fee for it and save the time that writing and keeping it up to date would otherwise cost.
What determines the costs
The most important factor is whether you prepare the information yourself or use an existing package. Preparing it yourself costs no money for materials, but does require hours from someone who writes the text, has it reviewed and distributes it. A ready-made package costs a fixed fee, but saves those hours and ensures the text immediately aligns with the reporting procedure that has been established.
A second factor is the size of the organization. For a small team, often a single email and a mention on the intranet is sufficient. With multiple locations or different languages, the number of channels increases: a poster on the shop floor, a page on the intranet, a standard part of the induction of new employees. Each additional channel requires some more maintenance.
The information kit as a fixed cost item
An information kit typically contains the explanation for employees, a brief overview of what happens to a report, and materials you can use on your intranet or during an induction day. This is a one-time or annual cost item, depending on how it is provided. The advantage is that the text is aligned with the statutory components of the scheme, so you do not need to work out yourself what exactly must be included there.
At signalo.eu, the information kit is part of the package that an organization receives upon enrollment, together with the reporting procedure and the information package for the works council. What this concretely costs depends on the size of the organization; a current overview is available on the page with rates.
Internal hours also count
In addition to materials, there is the time required internally: discussing the text with the works council, posting it on the intranet, including it in the induction of new employees, and updating it whenever something changes in the procedure or the handler. These are not large amounts, but recurring tasks that someone must take on. When establishing the reporting scheme, this component is often overlooked, even though it is just as important as the text itself.
It is also good for employers to know what happens if employees are not well informed about the channel; this affects not only the costs but also the question of whether the scheme works in practice as intended.
Where costs usually differ
The biggest differences do not arise with the first time informing, but with the maintenance thereafter. New employees also need to receive the information, changes to the procedure must be incorporated into the text, and in multiple EU countries the content may differ slightly per country. If you maintain this separately, you pay primarily in time; if you make it part of a fixed package, you pay a more transparent and predictable amount.
Whether your organization is subject to the reporting obligation and what exactly must be in place can be safely verified before you start comparing costs. The source of the rules themselves and a first assessment of your situation are available free of charge in the knowledge bank with explanations by topic.
If you do not yet have a clear picture of where you stand, start by the free check in a few questions. For questions about how the information is compiled and what it is based on, read more on the page about our working method.