‘Can we
compel a reluctant manager to investigate’ asked a Federation of Small
Businesses member to the legal team in the FSB magazine ‘First Voice.’ In a
recent edition of the FSB magazine Contact the People Resolutions Team for more
on improving investigation capacity. The reluctant manager apparently felt he
had not been trained for this role.
The FSB
legal team suggested that this could be a disciplinary matter as the manager
may be seen to be refusing to do ‘any additional duties that are suitable and
appropriate for his role.’ Sensibly though the FSB legal team recognised that
it was much more important to ensure that the investigation is conducted
correctly and not by someone who could later be alleged to be incompetent or
biased.
In many
small or large businesses investigations continue to challenge even the most
skilful and experienced manager. It is one of those responsibilities that
people acquire and it comes with great expectations is hugely challenging. Just
imagine if you suddenly put in the position of investigating whether or not a
college who you had been working with years was a ‘bully’ or not? A team member
alleges that they are. You need to interview witnesses, write up notes, put a
report together, maintain confidentiality.
We all possess
investigative skills to some degree and could not survive if we could not
gather verbal information from the people around us, collect documentary
evidence, draw conclusions, feed back our information and recommendations to
others (say about an area we are thinking of moving to).
In the
workplace though people’s livelihood and well being can depend on the skills of
an investigator if someone raises a grievance, or makes an allegation of
wrongdoing against them. I can see why a manager might be reluctant but I would
not then want to compel them to do it, rather support them and their colleagues
in ensuring that they did it fairly, rigorously and well.
Contact the
People Resolutions Workplace Investigation team about investigation training,
outsourcing the most complex, senior investigations, investigator mentoring. If
you are a small business contact John Crawley about ‘Investigation Pooling’.
