Safe Speak is an anonymous reporting (whistleblowing) channel. It lets employees and candidates report serious issues without revealing their identity. PeopleForce doesn't store who submitted a complaint, so the reporter stays anonymous at every step.
This article explains how to set up Safe Speak and how designated managers handle the complaints assigned to them.
Enable Safe Speak
Go to Settings → Desk → Safe Speak.
Click Enable Safe Speak.
Copy the submission page link that appears.
🪄 Tip: Make the link easy for employees to find, for example by adding it to your company links on the Home page or to an article in your Knowledge Base.
After enabling Safe Speak, click Manage access and add the people who should handle complaints. Only they can see and manage complaints, and an administrator can restrict access for themselves as well.
Create categories and default assignees
In Settings → Desk → Safe Speak, click Add.
Enter a name for the category, for example Workplace misconduct.
Add a description, for example Report harassment, discrimination or other violations.
Choose a default assignee. Every complaint in this category is assigned to them automatically.
Click Save.
💡 The default assignee is notified about every new complaint in their category. If a category has no default assignee, everyone with access to manage complaints is notified instead.
View complaints
Go to Safe Speak in the main menu. Complaints are listed with their title, category, creation date, assignee and status. The reporter is always shown as Anonymous.
When a complaint is assigned to you, you'll get a notification. Click it to open the complaint directly.
Work on a complaint
Click a complaint to open it in focus mode, a full-screen view on top of the list, labelled SafeSpeak · #[number]. When you close it, you return to the list exactly where you left off.
Focus mode shows the complaint's details and the conversation with the reporter on one screen.
Update the complaint details
In the case details, change any of these fields:
Status: New, In progress, On hold or Closed.
Assignee: the person responsible for the complaint. Only people with access to manage complaints can be selected.
Category: if the reporter chose the wrong one or didn't choose any.
Priority: Low, Medium or High, to focus on the most serious complaints first.
Respond to the reporter
Type your reply in the conversation.
Click Send.
The reporter will see your reply when they follow up on their complaint, and can respond anonymously.
To leave a comment for your colleagues only, switch to Internal note. The reporter never sees internal notes.
Resolve a complaint
When the issue is resolved, change the Status to Closed.
⚠️ To change a complaint's details or status, you need access to manage Safe Speak complaints. Being the assignee isn't enough.
Delete a complaint
Deleting a complaint permanently removes all its content, including messages and attachments.
Open the complaint.
Click Delete in focus mode.
Confirm the deletion.
The deletion is logged. If the reporter tries to open the complaint afterwards, they'll see who deleted it and when: Your complaint was deleted by [Name] on [Date].
Learn more
For the reporter's side, see Submit your complaint to Safe Speak.
Watch the Desk product overview video.