COURSE OVERVIEW:
Part of running an effective organisation is ensuring that all staff are held accountable for their actions in the workplace, and are able to air grievances and raise complaints in a safe forum. This means that employers may need to undertake investigations into staff misconduct from time to time. Conducting an unbiased and thorough workplace investigation can be a challenging and complicated process, particularly given the need to deal with sensitive topics and personal feelings.
When an employee makes an informal or formal complaint, the employer should take immediate steps to stop the alleged conflict, protect involved parties and begin investigations. Under many laws employers are legally obligated to investigate complaints (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, safety and ethical) in a timely manner. In addition, any appropriate corrective action is required to be taken by the employer to ensure illegal actions and behaviours cease immediately.
Responsiveness to a complaint and an investigation will not only yield the best information and evidence, but it will also enhance both the investigator's and the employer's credibility. Investigations can help the organisation identify and resolve internal problems before they become widespread. Given that every complaint has the potential to become a lawsuit, employers should investigate every case in a manner in which it can be presented to a court of law, if necessary. As potentially disruptive as investigations can be, they must be prompt, thorough and effective to ensure everyone's protection.
The first part of this course explains how to gather the information you need to figure out what happened. It also covers interviews and provides information on how to open and close an interview, sample questions for complaining employees, accused employees, and witnesses, and tips for successful interviewing. It also includes specific ideas and questions for interviewing the person who complained, the person accused, and witnesses.
The second part offers some tried and true strategies for evaluating the results of your investigation and reaching a decision.
The final part describes how to handle each of the three conclusions you might reach: (a) no misconduct occurred, (b) you can’t decide whether misconduct occurred, or (c) misconduct occurred. In addition to how to take action based on your decision and how to document your decision.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:
- The importance of workplace investigations
- How to gather information?
- Why you should get started right away?
- How to conduct effective interviews?
- Why keep an open mind during interviews?
- Why keep your opinions to yourself?
- How to focus on the facts?
- How to find out about other witnesses or evidence?
- How to document your interviews?
- How to interview the complaining employee?
- How to interview the accused employee?
- How to interview witnesses?
- How to interview nonemployees?
- How to gather other evidence?
- How to follow-up interviews?
- How to make and document your decision?
- How to evaluate the evidence?
- How to decide whether misconduct occurred?
- How to take action in case of no misconduct, inconclusive results or misconduct?
- What factors to consider when trying to decide on an appropriate corrective action?
- How to prepare an investigation report?
- What goes in the investigation file?
- How to verify corrective actions?
COURSE DURATION:
The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.
COURSE DELIVERY:
Purchase and download course content.
ASSESSMENT:
A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.
CERTIFICATION:
Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.