Essential investigation skills

Four key skills for carrying out HR investigations

Fact finding

What did you see/hear/experience?
When did the situation occur?
Who was involved?

Confidentiality

Duty of confidentiality simply means investigators have been entrusted with keeping information to themselves and they must only use it for the investigation. Anyone providing information must also keep this confidential.

Taking notes

The notes should be a summary of what was said, capturing the salient points.

Interviewing skills

Focus on the facts
Control and patience
Active listening

Witness statements

Witness statements are the primary source of evidence. People will be cross examined in tribunal and it's important their statements hold up to the other proof you have such as CCTV.

• Give all witnesses a copy of the interview notes to check and sign.

• Prepare witness statements based on the information the witness gave. Statements should be in witness’s own words.

• Send a copy of the witness statement to the witness to approve, date, sign and return.

Confidentiality of witness statements

• Treat all witness statements as confidential.

• Don’t give absolute guarantee of confidentiality because employees have the right to request access to information about them (e.g. witness statements).

When is suspension necessary?

In certain situations it may be decided that suspension with pay is necessary while the investigation is carried out. This can be the case when:

Working relationships have broken down
The employee could interfere with evidence
There’s a risk to an employee’s health and safety
There’s a risk of damage to a property, the business, an employee or the organisation as a whole

Suspension with pay should only be used after careful consideration and as a last resort. In addition, suspension should be regularly reviewed to ensure it isn’t unnecessarily drawn out.

At this stage it's also important to consider other avenues. For example, could the individual work in another department that isn't customer facing or is away from certain colleagues

Conclusions following investigations

1. Misconduct

This is where we make recommendations. Present all evidence to the person who will conduct disciplinary proceedings and then an external body will review and make the conclusion.

2. Informal concerns

Meet with the employee who raised concern and discuss the outcome. This is where you will find out the root of the issue. Essentially, this is an informal outcome where you will have a discussion and figure out an outcome.

3. Formal grievance

Pass the information onto the person handling the grievance and once again, make recommendations.