Beyond Instinct: Workplace Investigations Require Training, Not Trial and Error

What are you doing to train the people who investigate workplace complaints?  Your organization may have created an Employee Relations function, designated members of Human Resources or Legal to receive and look into workplace concerns, or asked senior managers to serve as EEO liaisons.  You probably chose people with good judgment and strong people skills because you want employees to know where to go when they have concerns, and you want those concerns are handled appropriately.  But those good instincts are not enough.

Conducting a workplace investigation is rarely as straightforward as it appears, and it is not the same as a coaching conversation or deposition.   Investigators need a level of preparation and precision that goes beyond instinct.  Investigators need technical knowledge and practical skills to gather information effectively and reach well-supported conclusions.  Hiring for experience can help, but organizations also need consistency across their internal processes, so that both the investigation and the ultimate work product feel fair and are legally defensible.   A training program on investigation processes help ensure that all investigators are aligned in their approach and methodology.

What Is at Stake

Once a niche function used by a modest subset of employers, usually for particularly complex situations, workplace investigations have gone mainstream.  An effective workplace investigation bolsters an organization’s legal defense to a discrimination claim and help ensure that employees feel supported and safe raising concerns at work.  A biased, rushed, or sloppy investigation is a liability risk in itself, compounding the organization’s legal exposure beyond the underlying claim. Missteps and inconsistencies in process can also carry their own significant reputational and cultural consequences.

The stakes today are simply too high to rely on trial and error as a learning method.  Organizations can best protect themselves - and their investment in a workplace investigation process – by ensuring their people have sufficient initial and refresher training on how to conduct effective workplace investigations.

Policies Need to Come First

Workplace investigations can be limited to simple fact-finding about whether something more likely than not occurred.   But they are more effective when the investigator also determines whether the behavior violated the organization’s policies or standards of conduct.  Framing the investigation that way gives employees procedural fairness, since their behavior is being measured against publicized, normative standards.  It also brings consistency to the process, which can feed into metrics, enable organizations to identify patterns, and support broader remedial measures to reduce future employee complaints.

The first step, then, for any organization seeking to improve its approach to workplace investigations is to make sure policies are in place that set forth the organization’s standards for appropriate workplace behavior.  These policies should also lay out a reporting or complaint mechanism, ideally offering multiple avenues for raising concerns, and warn employees of the potential repercussions for policy violations.

Key Elements to Cover in Training

With the policies in place, the organization should then ensure that workplace investigators are appropriately trained.  Investigators need to know the applicable policies, including both the substantive expectations for employee behavior and any procedural requirements that must be followed.

Investigators also need training in how to:

• conduct the intake interview with the complainant or reporter in a manner that encourages disclosure of information and leaves the person feeling heard;

• identify the issues raised and plan the investigation, including the information to be gathered and the order in which to proceed;

• conduct investigation interviews and gather information while mitigating bias and preserving confidentiality to the maximum extent possible;

• assess information for relevance and credibility in order to make findings and reach conclusions;

• maintain accurate notes and appropriately document findings and conclusions; and

• close out the investigation with the parties, including by implementing recommended outcomes.

In our experience, it is not only the substance of the training that matters, but also how it is presented.  The most effective training programs integrate learning guides and verbal instruction with hands-on practice and real-time feedback focused on a true-to-life case study.   Through that combination of learning and doing, participants become engaged in the material and make it their own.  They build skills and learn techniques they can then apply when investigating actual employee concerns. 

Include All Levels and Offer Refreshers

Training that includes both experienced and new investigators enables peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, reinforces the instructor’s lessons, and provides additional practical insights.  Group sessions within a single organization also create “aha” moments, where particular habits or challenges come to light through the practice exercises and debriefs.  Identifying these pain points provides the organization an opportunity to clarify and improve its processes and provide uniform guidance for future situations.

Refresher training should also be scheduled at periodic intervals.  Investigations training should not be a “one and done” experience.  Investigation practices evolve with time, and skills absorbed in an initial training program should be built upon in future sessions.  Just because an investigator has consistently followed a particular practice does not mean it is the best course of action, and even the most seasoned investigators can learn and refine their approach when given the time and space to focus on this work.

Protect Your Investment

Having designated workplace investigators in place is only the first step towards effectively addressing workplace concerns.  The next is ensuring they have the right skills and are aligned on the organization’s process, so they can do work well.  We tailor our workplace investigations training programs to each organization, with sessions ranging from four hours to four days, depending on the level of depth desired, the degree to which internal processes have been established, and the skills the team already possesses.

That investment in training pays off after the training session ends, in every investigation your team conducts using skill instead of just instinct.