Confidential adviser for business
A confidential adviser that demonstrably fulfils your duty of care
Appointing a confidential adviser is step one; step two is ensuring the route to them is actually used and that you can account for how it works. Soterna supports internal and external advisers with encrypted messaging and shielded case management: a matter automatically stays away from anyone involved and you gain anonymised insight into the reporting climate.
Why this matters
A confidential adviser as a governance measure
Unwanted behaviour occurs in every organisation; what matters at board level is whether the signal surfaces early or stays quiet until it becomes a governance problem. A confidential adviser is therefore part of your risk management and helps you give substance to your legal obligation around psychosocial workload.
Low-threshold support
Employees share their story without it immediately becoming a formal report; the signal feeds into anonymised reporting.
Substance for PSW policy
A confidential adviser is a core measure within policy against psychosocial workload.
Confidentiality secured
What is shared with a confidential adviser demonstrably stays with the confidential adviser.
Signals for policy
Anonymised reports show where the organisation needs to course-correct.
Internal versus external
Internal or external confidential adviser, or both?
The internal confidential adviser knows the organisation, the external one sits entirely outside it. Often the answer is: offer both and let the employee choose.
Internal confidential adviser
- Knows the organisation, culture and short lines of communication
- Quick and informal to approach on the work floor
- Risk: perceived closeness to management or HR
- Risk: dual roles and conflicts of interest in small teams
External confidential adviser
- Fully independent of the organisation
- No stake whatsoever in the outcome of a matter
- Certified professional with broader experience
- A safer feeling for issues that touch management or HR
External confidential adviser
Hiring an external confidential adviser and helping them land safely
An external confidential adviser is an independent, often professionally registered professional with no stake in the outcome; precisely for issues that touch management, HR or the board, that lowers the threshold. In Soterna they work in the same secure environment as an internal adviser.
What to look out for when hiring
- Professional registration and demonstrable experience in your sector
- Clear arrangements around availability, confidentiality and reporting
- A subscription or pay-as-you-go model that fits your size
- A secure, digital route to them without a visible email trail
- Working in the same environment as the internal route, with shielded case management
More background: what an external confidential adviser is and what it costs and how you choose between internal and external.
The threshold
Why internal routes go unused and what that costs you
The walk to the consulting room gets noticed, the appointment shows up in a shared calendar and for issues involving managers an internal route quickly feels coloured. An unused route is a blind spot for you, while the turnover, absenteeism and reputational costs of an unsafe climate do keep mounting.
How Soterna makes both routes safe
- Employees reach the confidential adviser digitally, without a visible appointment or email trail in company systems
- Freedom of choice: internal, external or first anonymous contact, with route advice from the Safe Route Advisor
- Conflict of Interest Routing excludes the managers, HR or directors involved from access, assignment and reporting
- The Privacy Coach explains in advance who can see what
- External confidential advisers work in the same secure environment
For the professional
Case management for confidential advisers
Confidential advisers often work with loose notes, Excel files or paper case files. That is vulnerable for the employee, the confidential adviser and the organisation that needs to account for how this is handled.
Shielded case files
Only the confidential adviser has access to their own case file. No HR, no IT, no board. Encrypted with AES-256-GCM; the reporter's identity is held in a separate vault.
Secure communication
Messages with reporters run encrypted through the secure environment, fully anonymously too; internal notes are strictly separated from what the reporter sees.
Annual report and analytics
Anonymised counts, themes and trends roll up automatically into a k-anonymous annual report: a minimum group of seven and suppression of cells that are too small keep everything untraceable.
SOT-4192-AC
Misconduct
Deadline tracking
Case Care Score
follow-up & reporter wellbeing
The case workspace from the demo environment: seven statuses, secure messaging and a mandatory closure reason. Every action sits in an audit log that only the confidential adviser themselves can view.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about the confidential adviser
Is a confidential adviser mandatory for businesses?
Under occupational health and safety law, employers are required to have a policy in place to address psychosocial workload (PSW). Within that framework, a confidential adviser is a widely supported measure recommended by the labour inspectorate; legislation explicitly requiring a confidential adviser for (larger) employers is in development. Those who set one up now stay ahead of the obligation rather than chasing it.
What is the difference between an internal and external confidential adviser?
An internal confidential adviser is one of your own employees who takes on this role alongside another position and knows the organisation well. An external confidential adviser is hired in, sits entirely outside the organisation and has no stake whatsoever in the outcome. Many organisations combine the two, so that employees can choose for themselves.
What should I look out for when hiring a confidential adviser?
Pay attention to certification (for example a recognised professional register), experience in your sector, availability, and clear arrangements around confidentiality and reporting. Just as important: how employees can reach the confidential adviser without anyone in the organisation seeing it. Soterna enables that with a guided intake that records no IP address; the reporter chooses anonymous, confidential or named, and returns later with a SOT reference and access code that never appears in the URL.
What exactly does a confidential adviser do?
A confidential adviser supports employees who are dealing with unwanted behaviour or integrity issues, thinks through possible next steps with them and, if desired, guides them through making a report or complaint. The employee remains in control; the confidential adviser advises and supports, but does not take the matter over. That way issues come into view early, before they escalate.
Can HR view the confidential adviser's case files?
No. In Soterna, confidential advisers' case files are strictly shielded: only the handler themselves has access, through role-based permissions. HR and board roles see only aggregated reporting with a hard minimum group of seven, where cells that are too small are suppressed, so that no individual employee is identifiable.
Want to read more? See whether a confidential adviser is mandatory and how you choose between internal and external in the knowledge base.
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Fulfil your duty of care demonstrably
See in a demo how employees make safe contact, how confidential advisers manage case files and what aggregated insight you receive without access to individual case files.