Investigator Chronicles Episode 4 is live! – Watch Now
“I feel the need, the need for speed.” For those of us raised in the 80s, this is the battle cry of Top Gun’s Maverick and Goose. But for many folks tasked with conducting internal workplace investigations, this quote may also call to mind the manager, lawyer, union leader, complainant or Board member that puts
Just last week, I wrote about the Miami Dolphins’ swift and effective response to offensive tweets posted by a player in response to the NFL’s draft of its first openly gay player, Michael Sam. Within a week, news of offensive and sexist e-mails written by Richard Scudamore, the Chief Executive of the Premier League, were
In a workplace investigation, it is not uncommon for complainants and potential witnesses to express concerns about job-related reprisals before speaking to the investigator. Recently, however, I had witnesses in two separate investigations tell me that they did not want to participate for fear of being sued by the respondent, with one witness specifically referencing
This week, approximately one million workers in France in the digital and consultancy sector won a legally-binding agreement protecting them from having to respond to email outside of working hours – that is before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. There has been much talk since about the effect that limiting email outside of working
Recently my colleague and I had the opportunity to travel to Iqaluit, Nunavut in order to provide workplace investigation training. As part of my preparation for our trip, I was introduced to the concept of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, a term for Inuit traditional knowledge and information that is passed down through oral history, customs and traditions.
There seem to be no shortage of articles and blogs these days touting the merits of conducting workplace investigations in many circumstances (we know because we write a lot of them). You read about how they can improve the workplace and help employers avoid legal liability. What you don’t often see written about is how
In addition to traditional workplace investigations, sometimes we are asked to conduct broader inquiries into concerns of systemic barriers and discriminatory policies and practices. To do so, we use a variety of information gathering techniques such as policy reviews, data analysis, questionnaires, focus groups and one-on-one interviews. As the variety of matters for which organizations
Having spent almost half of this last month training individuals on how to conduct workplace investigations, I’ve been involved in some very interesting discussions with the over 75 people who have attended those sessions. Here are some of the highlights: 1. Internal investigators are anxious to understand when they should not be the one to
