Eileen Fursland reports on the art of being a nark with a social conscience

Blowing the whistle can be a career move

Guy Dehn is director of Public Concern at Work, which supports employees who "blow the whistle" on professional misconduct or fraudulent and unethical behaviour. He says that as well as being more likely to recognise something amiss, a new person on a work placement or temporary contract can feel that he or she has less to lose than long-standing staff.

He quotes the case of a student working in a large supermarket chain who realised that the delicatessen manageress was altering the dates on "sell-by" labels in order to sell out-of-date food. Other staff members knew it was going on but were keeping quiet. The student took her concerns to another manager in the store, and subsequently to Public Concern at Work, and returned to her studies having stopped a practice that had been endangering public health.

The UK now has strong whistleblower protection - thanks to last year's Public Interest Disclosure Act. If someone is dismissed for legitimately informing on their employer, the court can order their reinstatement or award unlimited compensation. "You are protected from your first day at work. But it doesn't mean you can leak any information anywhere. The legislation protects only those people who do it responsibly," says Mr Dehn. That means going through the proper channels first. And bona fide whistleblowing under the Act is where the wrongdoing affects the interests of the public - not where you personally feel that you have been badly treated, he says.

Mandie Lavin, the director of professional standards at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, points out that in professions such as nursing and accountancy, people are bound by codes of conduct or ethical guidelines to express any concerns about the ethical standards of colleagues.

Students and graduates are often the ones with the most up-to-date knowledge of a subject. But if you are relatively new to the workplace it can be difficult to know whether a suspicion is justified or not. Obviously, you will still have a lot to learn and what may at first glance look like unethical practice could in fact not be a problem at all, Ms Lavin says.

Challenging accepted practice can seem a momentous task. For this reason, Ms Lavin and Mr Dehn advise against trying to go it alone. Some companies are introducing whistleblowing policies, giving correct procedures. If not, talk about your concerns with someone more experienced - your tutor, a colleague, your professional organisation or trade union. Public Concern at Work has a confidential helpline.

"Trade unions and professional organisations have an important role - they may be the first port of call for people who are wrestling with their conscience and wondering whether or not they should take action. They have become a lot more sophisticated in how they support people through that process," Ms Lavin says.

Your biggest fear is likely to be that falling out with your employer will jeopardise the rest of your career. Will future employers see you as a troublemaker? Not necessarily, Mr Dehn believes. He recommends being open and honest about why you left.

Emma Phillips, 23, had a dispute with her employer - over unpaid wages rather than whistleblowing - but it has not counted against her. On leaving university with a law degree in 1998, Ms Phillips decided to work for a while before doing her bar finals. She was delighted when she was offered a job as assistant editor on a newsletter being launched by a small conferencing company.

"I was never given a contract of employment or a proper payslip - I was being paid by personal cheques from the company's owner," she says. "It was quite stressful - I felt I was being fobbed off all the time."

When one of the personal cheques bounced, Ms Phillips felt she had to leave. The company refused to pay her outstanding wages of almost £700 and the dispute dragged on. She was understandably anxious about what she would say to future employers. "If you have left your previous employer on bad terms, interviewers want to know why."

However, the employment agency she subsequently joined was supportive, she says. With the help of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), she decided to take the company to an employment tribunal, but the week before the hearing the company paid.

Ms Phillips has since been offered two permanent jobs and is now an office administrator at Public Concern at Work. "Fortunately I had some knowledge of employment law. I was prepared to see it through," she says. "It's important to take a stand."

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