A Letter to All You Large Employers With An Internal Investigative Team:

Do you have confidence in the skills of each professional in your organization who conducts investigations?  Consider this.

It is an ordinary Monday.  You receive notice of a complaint of sexual harassment.  Maybe it is by or against a valuable, high-performing executive.  Maybe it is by or against a one-month employee you are just getting to know.  Either way, yours is a fascinating and challenging job.  Your policy says the complaint must be investigated.  But by who?  Should you direct this investigation to an in-house investigator, or go to a third-party investigator?  Your legal spend is high this year, and the HR executive just built out a team of HR business professionals to respond to employee complaints.  You would prefer to keep it in-house and wrap it up quickly.   

You know this critical decision could change this ordinary Monday into an infamous day – the day you made the decision to keep the investigation in-house.  Two years down the road, amid contentious litigation, will it have been the right decision?

It can be.  You can trust your internal investigative team if they are well-trained, skilled, professional workplace investigators who use a consistent methodology to reach well-reasoned, good-faith conclusions.  Does this describe your team?  Have they received the kind of intensive, skill-based investigations training to truly prepare them?

The reality is internal investigators should handle most investigations.  Hands down.  This ensures a quicker turnaround, at less expense, by those who best understand the organization and its culture.  The key is ensuring consistency in process so that each of those investigations deliver reliable information to decision-makers, which they can rely on to make informed and responsible employment decisions.   

Like most organizations, you are likely seeing an increase in investigations year over year.  This trend will likely continue.  Why?  Because employees have an increased expectation that the employer cares about its workplace culture, that it should resolve workplace disputes effectively. 

Conducting investigations is not just about asking a few questions of nearby employees and trusting one’s instincts on who is being truthful.  It is a profession all its own with unique skills and demands.  Investigators must possess strong people skills, good judgment, and solid strategic skills.  They must be able to identify and overcome their own biases.  They need to be strong writers with clear organizational skills to ensure an adequate record.  They must understand equal employment opportunity principles and have a strong grasp of your organization’s policies.  They must consistently employ skills aligned with standard practices in the industry.  And, they have to be able to communicate the outcomes to various stakeholders.

It is with these consistent practices that decision-makers can be confident they have reliable information to make a reasoned decision in light of a workplace dispute.  And consistency requires training.

Van Dermyden Makus is launching a customizable, multi-day, skills-based training for large employers anywhere.  Find out more at VMMastered.com.