“Complaints about workplace mistreatment that potentially involve race, sex, age, etc. require experienced, professional investigation.”
– Terri Stivarius, Chief Investigator and Coach
Do I Really Need An Investigation?
Employers often try to handle allegations of misconduct internally through ‘common sense’ discussions, appealing to reason, and ineffective or weak corrective actions. They make biased assumptions and fail to investigate. But allegations can have serious consequences for careers, reputations, financial assets, and workplace culture. A thorough, neutral and effective investigation with unambiguous, documented results supported by the evidence is not intuitive. Nor is it the job of an operations manager, an overworked or inexperienced HR professional, or in-house counsel who is first and foremost employed to represent the employer’s interests. A neutral professional who can serve as a witness in formal proceedings is required.
The consequences of poorly-conducted workplace investigations go far beyond the individuals directly involved. Complaints of wrongdoing have serious consequences on employee morale. A careless investigation can lead to an even more toxic work environment. Your integrity as a leader and as an employer is on the line.
Do You Need an Investigation?
How Do I Know If I Need An External Investigator?
As an employer, the greatest asset you can bring to the investigative process is knowing when a formal investigation by an external third party is needed.
Retaining an external investigator is the best course of action when:
1
Stakes Are High
In cases where the law may have been violated, your company’s reputation and assets are at stake. You’ll want to make sure the matter is investigated thoroughly, credibly, and professionally. A failure to investigate properly can impact employee morale, performance, recruiting, retention, financial resources, shareholder value, key employee availability, operating licenses, and more.
2
Your Team Lacks Formal Investigative Training
An effective investigation is no small task. Seasoned professional investigators must navigate all sorts of hurdles, such as resistance to providing or tampering with evidence, uncooperative or untruthful witnesses, conflicting stories and evidence, credibility questions, retaliation, and meddlesome third parties. Bias, or the appearance of bias, can be much more likely to poison the water with an internal investigation.
3
Your Team is Out-Resourced
When it comes to workplace investigations, time is of the essence. Evidence must be collected before memories have faded or documents have been destroyed. Delaying an investigation can lead to further complaints, as well as an argument that the employer was complicit in the bad behavior alleged. Investigating an allegation promptly requires a genuine sense of urgency and a methodology that will hold up in court. It’s often best to hire someone whose sole job is to collect, analyze and report the evidence quickly so that you can make good decisions to protect employees and assets.
Who Should Not Perform Workplace Investigations?
To avoid perceived bias or conflicts of interest, your in-house legal team should not perform workplace investigations. Depending on the stakes or risk of bias, this might also be true of your human resources team.
Retaining a neutral professional is often the best option for ensuring that an investigation is performed in a lawful manner and that credible, material, and relevant information forms the basis for factfinding that will enable related decisions.
Workplace Investigations With PointerWise
At PointerWise, we specialize in workplace investigations because we bring the legal acumen necessary to get the job done—without the high rates charged by law firms. Our founder and CEO (Terri) is a lawyer and conducts investigations when a lawyer is preferred. She trains, leads, and oversees our investigation team of employee relations professionals. All team members are able to conduct both attorney-client privileged investigations (under the supervision of inside or outside legal counsel) and non-privileged investigations.
Our process prioritizes the respect, dignity, and trust of every party in the investigation, including the subject of the complaint.
1000+ Workplace Investigations
Workplace
Discrimination
Harassment
Toxic Behaviors
Hostile Work Environment
Chronic Conflict
UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Policy Breaches
Attorney-Client
Privileged
Are You a Public Entity? We Understand the Impact of Open Records Laws
For public employers, we know the anxiety that comes with investigative reports being made public. Rest assured that every report produced by PointerWise is objective, thorough, and factual. You can count on our investigations to be airtight and professional. We have your back.
We specialize in high-profile cases where credible investigations are more crucial than ever.
What We Don’t Do
There are times when working with us may not be in the best interests of your organization. You may be looking for an attorney who can investigate for the purpose of advising you as to potential litigation. We don’t practice law and cannot provide this service. In such matters, we suggest first hiring a seasoned employment lawyer. Then, if a neutral investigation is recommended, think about hiring us under that lawyer’s supervision.
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