Employee Investigations

Employee Investigations are one of those burdens of leadership that every manager must deal with.  Below we discuss the following aspects of Employee Investigations:

• What is at stake if Managers don’t deal well with Employee Investigations
• Employee Investigation Steps:

1. Assess the Complaint
2. Determine who should be involved in an Employee Investigation
3. Interim steps in an Employee Investigation
4. Conducting an Employee Investigation Interview
5. Finalize the Employee Investigation
6. Take Action

Disclaimer: The Wily Manager guys are not lawyers, and as such, you need to use the information here as guidelines, but be well aware of applicable legislation in the jurisdiction you are working in.

What is at Stake in Employee Investigations

• Dollars – Mismanagement of Employee Investigations can lead to very expensive litigation.
• Company Reputation – a poorly handled Employee Investigation can make your organization famous in an unflattering way.
• Brand Health – Poor publicity or reputation management can badly damage an organizations’ brand.
• Employee Relations/Morale – An Employee Investigation impacts many more people than simply those involved in the investigation.  Poor Employee Relations can cause higher turnover and lower employee productivity – both of which are costly.
• Organized Labor Risk – if you are not currently unionized, and wish to remain so, it is imperative that Employee Investigations be handled well.
• Careers are at Stake – Someone’s career and reputation may be at question in an Employee Investigation, so it critical that they be handled in such a way that is fair and equitable to all concerned.

Employee Investigation Steps

1. Assess the Complaint. Your first step is to assess the scope and seriousness of what you’re dealing with:

• Law – Were any laws broken?  Do law enforcement agencies need to become involved?
• Policies – Were organizational policies breached?  If so, to what degree?
• Does it involve people external to the company – Are customers, suppliers, regulators or some other stakeholders involved?  If so, how does this change the seriousness or scope of your investigation?
• Formal or informal response required – can this adequately be handled with an informal discussion, or are documented interventions required?
• What does the complainant want – ask the complainant what s/he would like to see as an outcome.  You need to be careful not to promise that outcome before completing your investigation, but it helps to determine the scope and seriousness if you know what the complainant wants.

2. Determine who should be involved in the Employee Investigation:

• Independent – can you, as the manager, handle this on your own?
• HR – a good HR person can assist with assessing the risk, and providing investigation tools.
• Legal – similar to HR, if you have a legal department, you may have access to expertise to assist in the investigation
• Management – do you need to reach out to peers, or to your boss to properly conduct the investigation
• The Police – if you believe local laws have been broken, then you have a responsibility to alert law enforcement officials whether you want to or not.
• Health and Wellness/Safety – if there are potential health and safety issues, you should alert the appropriate people in your organization.  Remember than many forms of harassment are covered in “violence in the workplace” legislation, and as such would require the involvement of your Health and Safety people.

3. Interim Steps in an Employee Investigation:

In many circumstances you will have to make decisions before concluding your investigation.  In these cases, advice from HR and/or legal is particularly helpful.

• Reporting to work – does an employee continue to report to work as normal, or is there another accommodation put in place.
• Reporting relationships – Should an employee temporarily report to someone else during the investigation?
• Short term disability – are there provisions for employees during the interim period of the investigation?

4. Conducting the Employee Investigation interview

• Quickly – you need to interview all concerned as soon as possible after a complaint is made.
• Where – think about where you will conduct the interviews.  They must be in private, but it may be good to find a place that is not conspicuous.  Remember that someone accused of something should be treated as innocent until evidence presents itself as otherwise.
• Who/how many interviewers – as a manager, it is highly advised that you have support and a witness in any interview.  This can be a peer, a boss, or someone from HR or legal.
• Complainant and suggested witnesses – you will want to interview the complainant again, after you have gathered information from others, and have refined your questions.  You should also ask the complainant who s/he thinks you should speak with.
• Respondent and suggested witnesses.  The respondent should also be interviewed, and asked who s/he thinks should be interviews.
• Provide information carefully – do not betray confidences, and do not ask leading questions.  Approach every interview with the intention of learning more about the situation.
• Be thorough, and ask each person you interview if there anything you haven’t asked that they think would be helpful?

5. Finalize the investigation
There are three possibilities from your investigation, and you need to articulate this:

• The complaint is substantiated
• The complaint is not substantiated
• The investigation of the complaint is inconclusive

6. Take Action
Finally, you need to do something about the complaint.  If you choose to do nothing, you need to communicate to all concerned that you are not going to act, and why you aren’t going to act.

• Determine appropriate outcomes.  What should happen, and in what time frame.
• Inform complainant and respondent of the outcome and why.
• Witnesses should be informed the matter is closed, but need not be informed of outcome.  In sensitive matters, it is particularly important to maintain confidentiality.  As such, it is appropriate to tell people the matter is closed, but without revealing the outcome.

Three Things to Remember About Employee Investigations:

1. Stay objective.  Do your best to minimize any biases you may have.
2. Stick to the relevant facts.  There will be many externalities brought into the investigation.  Make sure you stick to the matter at hand.
3. Move quickly but don’t rush.  You need to begin your investigation as soon as possible after the complaint, but don’t be pressured into making a decision before gathering the appropriate information

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Employee Investigations (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!