5 Tips To Conducting A Fair and Reputable Disciplinary Investigation On An Employee
Employee Investigation
An employee that doesn’t stick to your company’s code of conduct deserves to be fired. This is because his behavior is counter productive. In fact, such an employee becomes a stumbling block towards achieving your company goals. On the other hand, the law requires an employer to back his reason for dismissal with evidence that’s beyond doubt.
An investigation that’s not fair is a waste of time because you will not get any facts. Besides that, you are expected to investigate the employee fairly without infringing on his individual rights. Moreover, knowing how to conduct a disciplinary investigation can help in clearing the names of any employee that might have been wrongly accused. Below are some of the tips that you can use to ensure you get all the evidence that you are looking for.
- Accept Submission of Allegations
An investigation should not start unless allegation claims have been submitted by either internal or external sources. In addition to that, you should analyze the allegations to find out whether what the accused employee did is against the laws of your company. This is because there are people who can’t draw a line between what’s wrong or right. In fact, there are employees that can frame their colleagues into scandals just because they don’t like them. You should, therefore, filter the allegations you receive to avoid wasting time and money.
- Meet With Informers Away from Work
Most informers will hesitate in sharing information on serious allegations if their safety is not guaranteed. It’s therefore recommended that you meet with the informers in a secure location that’s not close to their place of work. You should never hold the meeting in your office because you might cause eyebrows to be raised. In fact, you should schedule the meeting on a day and time that’s most convenient for your informer.
- Document The Evidence
When you do meet with your informer, you should be armed with gadgets that can store the details. It’s therefore important to carry a video recorder and an audio recorder. Some of your sources may not be comfortable with these gadgets. You should, therefore, consider hiding your gadgets so that the informer doesn’t know they are being recorded. The recorded information should be stored in electronic formats on flash disks. In fact, you should create backup copies of what is stored in the flash disk to ensure that you don’t lose your evidence.
- Investigate Recent Issues
Digging into malpractices that happened several decades ago is a waste of time. This is because some of the people that can give you reliable leads may be out of your reach. Some of them may have relocated to other countries while others might have died. You should, therefore, investigate allegations while they are still hot. If you delay in investigating the allegations when they are still trending, the culprits might succeed in covering their tracks.
- Hire a Private Investigator
Disciplinary investigations should be carried out by an independent party that doesn’t have any vested interests. Requesting an employee to investigate a colleague is indeed a huge mistake. This is because he might take advantage of the situation to blackmail his workmate especially if he wants his position. Hiring a private investigator will help in finding out whether the information you got from your source contradicts what is on the ground.
