When complaints are made within a company, it is important to assess them and take them seriously. However, an investigation is not always the answer out of fear of a psychosocial risk claim.
As psychosocial risk obligations tighten, and AI provides easy pathways for employees to draft legalistic complaints, many employers default to workplace investigations for everything that arises as a complaint. Not every scenario, however, needs to be approached with a formal investigation as it can erode trust, rather than repair it.
Discerning the need to conduct a formal investigation
Two questions to consider when a workplace complaint has come in, for if it needs to be escalated to a formal investigation are:
1. Does it clear the policy threshold?
This question is about determining whether the alleged conduct breaches the organisation’s policies to a degree which would require disciplinary action.
Managers and HR need to have a shared and well-understood picture of where the line sits, and at what point it is crossed and requires a disciplinary response.
There needs to be a consistent standard across management and HR to prevent the same complaint being dismissed by one manager and escalated by another.
2. Is there evidence to support it?
A mediation in some cases may be the more appropriate tool as opposed to a formal investigation.
Once the complainant has been interviewed, the next question which should be asked is if there is enough detail to put specific allegations to a respondent fairly.
An investigator needs to test statements and surface evidence to determine if there is substance to claims by asking such questions as “Can you give me an example of when this happened and provide a timeline if possible?”.
It is important to note that a lack of evidence does not automatically mean the complaint is untrue and should be dismissed. Complainants may struggle to isolate particular dates if behaviour has occurred over a sustained period of time.
What to do if an investigation isn’t the answer
If the picture isn’t clear when a complaint comes in, a preliminary assessment is a practical middle option. This entails similar steps to the first stage of an investigation by reviewing documentation, speaking to the complainant and drafting allegations.
At this point, you then ask the question of: “If proven to be true, what will we do about it?”. If the answer to that question is disciplinary action, then a full investigation is likely warranted. However, if the answer points more towards mediation, coaching or resetting expectations, then skipping the full investigation is a good route to take. This approach is often more efficient and less damaging.
Communicating the decision
If the decision is made not to conduct a formal investigation, it is important to not go silent on the complainant and dismiss their complaint. The complainant needs to feel heard and supported.
The management and HR team need to clearly communicate the decision not to conduct a formal investigation, ensuring it is clear that they own the process of how it is managed. It is then important that management and HR provide options to the complainant to deal with the concern, such as a direct conversation between the parties, a facilitated conversation or manager-led coaching.
It is suggested to give genuine, factual information about how workplace processes work if the complainant does not agree with the decision to not conduct a formal investigation.
A workplace investigation is just one tool, but it is not the only tool, and if it is treated as the only tool, it can be quite damaging to workplace culture. How you handle the workplace complaint matters just as much as the outcome.
As part of this, it is important to ensure that your workplace has a policy in place which outlines the organisation’s complaint handling procedure. This will inform staff on how to make a complaint to management when an issue arises, and the matter in which it will be handled.
If you would like assistance in handling a grievance or formal complaint, including conducting a workplace investigation, engaging a mediator or providing coaching, contact us via the link below.