First and foremost, you should protect your confidentiality and do all you can to not put yourself into a circumstance where someone will ask you if you have been involved with filing a fraud report about the organization or an individual. If for some reason you are pinned down by a person from your organization or team, each individaul will have to do what he or she feels is the right thing for them to do at that time. We will not of course ever advise you to be dishonest. However, we do not feel that an organization should put its people into a position where they are surrounded with what they beleive to be dishonest and fraudulent activities. When this occurs, people need to make their own decisions about how they navigate such challenging and professionally dangerous waters. Individuals have worked hard to achieve the roles, retirement benefits and compensation that they have. And their personal reputations as a "team player" are certainly under heavy pressure when illicit activities are going on in a team, and others expect you to maintain the silence with them or join them in the dishonest activity. While we are not advocating for you to respond one way or another - truthfully or with an aim to mislead the questioner - whatever choice you make we support...as we understand how difficult and professionally risky it can be to be viewed as someone who is drawing a line in the sand regarding the illegal activity which has been going on, and taking a stance to distance themselves from such perpetrators and activities where they can.
Secondly, if others discover that you may be involved with a filing that may yield some meaningful reward for the action you have taken - some individuals may express faint jealously, anger or other related sentiments towards whomever they think may be receiving a benefit which they are not, for braving the risks of stepping forward to stop the crime. Many will wish they had done it first, or may even claim they did so already in channels which bore no fruit. All kinds of dynamics internally will come surging forward as you go through this process, as the emotions typically swing widely between greed, fear and anger as you aim to bring this case to a close. But if you have done the right thing for the right reasons, you will sleep at peace with yourself each night knowing you have done your best to make your company and the world a better place. Your actions are honorable, no matter what political or emotional swirl may encompass the office work environment.
OffRecord will be there to work with you to navigate these swirls of emotion and challenge as the process unfolds, as it can take months if not years to reach a final conclusion. And hopefully, we will be successful in working with you to keep your identity fully concealed if at all possible. Regardless, we will stand by you through out it all, leading from the front the initiation of the process while working to increase the chances that the right conclusion is made however long it takes, in the safest manner for you, your family and your career.