The Foundation of an Ethical Workplace Investigation
Setting the Bar for Workplace Investigators
At ETHIX360, we believe that workplace investigations and the associated processes form an integral part of any effective compliance program. In fact, I’ve always believed that although companies may have a general Code of Ethics, any organization that manages internal workplace investigations should also have a Code of Ethics specifically for Workplace Investigators. It may read something like this:
The investigation outcome may have a significant impact on the organization and the personal and professional lives of the people involved. Investigation participants are entitled to be treated with respect, fairness, moderation, thoroughness, and impartiality.
Investigations should be conducted in a non-adversarial manner. After all, it is a management process. An investigator is not a prosecutor conducting a trial.
Investigators should objectively assess the issues and hold no personal interest in a particular outcome. A proper investigation always demonstrates fair and consistent review and considers all sides of a situation.
Workplace investigators represent the organization’s ethics and compliance function and should always act to support that function. Conducting an investigation with tact, integrity, and good judgment serves the best interests of the organization and builds trust in the ethics and compliance function of your organization.
All investigators should respect the legal, employee, and privacy rights of investigation participants. This includes ensuring that any personal information collected is relevant to the investigation and includes treating information confidentially.
Raising the Bar
Those principles are the basics of conducting an ethical investigation, and your company may already have a solid understanding of them. Through our experience building software specifically to support workplace investigations, we’ve discovered a few more that we think you should consider:
Investigators should be able to report investigation findings and concerns objectively and in a timely, consistent, and professional manner, disclosing all material facts precisely to avoid any distortion of the investigation findings. After all, the organization is entitled to the investigation findings and recommendations without delay, bias, or inconsistency.
Investigators recognize the importance of safeguarding the investigation files and the evidence collected and retained according to the organization’s policy.
Investigators should understand the policy in place at the time the allegation occurred and judge to those standards.
It is only over years working in the compliance space that I've come to understand the ins and outs of a successful workplace investigation, and I plan to continue learning as long as I remain in this industry. As part of my continuing education, I recently completed the “Leading Workplace Investigations” course from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). I’ve always appreciated learning from the best of the best, not only improving my own skills, but also understanding best practices that we can better support with our solutions.
I was fortunate to attend the class taught by Susan White, SHRM SCP. Along with over 65 participants in the class, mostly investigators with 20+ investigations completed, Susan shared a wealth of insight from her years as workplace investigator. Susan did an excellent job facilitating the class itself, and the interaction of the group was very insightful.
The process introduced a great framework, and I would highly recommend that anyone who is a workplace investigator, manages workplace investigators, or wants to gain tremendous insight into that world, take a day and be part of this (side note, there is a SHRM credential associated as well). It is informative for the less experienced and a great refresher and reminder for the more experienced.
As evidenced by SHRM, there are plenty of resources out there to help you construct meaningful and ethical standards for your workplace investigations. I encourage you to put yourself out there and plan to join a class or reach out to an experienced professional you may want to get to know. In the meantime, you can always scroll up and take another look at what our years in the investigation industry have taught us here at ETHIX360.
The ETHIX360 blog brings you weekly updates on all things human resources and compliance.
MEET THE AUTHOR
J Rollins is the co-founder and CEO of ETHIX360. J is a well known leader and innovator who has served on senior leadership teams ranging in responsibility from Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP of Product Strategy and Chief Operating Officer.
ABOUT ETHIX360
At ETHIX360, our goal is simple: to provide an affordable, flexible, and comprehensive answer to employee communication, policy management, corporate training and case management on issues related to corporate ethics, code of conduct, fraud, bribery, and workplace violence.
