Tackling Your First Employee Relations Investigation

The best sports teams all share one commonality: They make game plans. HR professionals should operate in the same manner and plan a path that makes the most sense without utilizing too many resources. Having a strong game plan sets the tone for the rest of the investigation.

We have all heard the saying that there are always two sides to every story. As HR professionals, it is important that we take all sides into consideration and paint the picture with factual evidence only. This can become challenging when adding witnesses, time constraints, and conflicting statements during the investigation process. The best investigators know what to look for and how to look for the facts.

What’s really going on? As the investigation progresses, it is easy to get trapped into the he said-she said circle of no return. You always want to return the investigation back to the original concern at hand. Now, this doesn’t mean that you should ignore other concerning variables that are discovered during the investigation. However, you want to make sure you have a clean and clear investigation that addresses the primary issues at hand first.

So, you are sitting at your desk with a pile of notes, email threads, and witness statements. Now what? It’s time to put it all together. Evaluating the evidence in connection with the concern is the most important part. Are the concerns substantiated? Is this something that the company (or employees) have experienced in the past? What resources are available to make sure this concern does not repeat in the future? Connect all the dots so you can accurately communicate the final picture.