Practical Investigation Skills

How To Undertake A Fair And Rigorous Workplace Investigation

The experts from The TCM Group have developed this high quality Practical Investigation Skills course for in-house and consultant investigators. This course is predominantly for use as part of grievance, bullying & harassment and disciplinary investigations, however, it is also suitable for investigators involved in complaints, misconduct and other types of investigations.

The course

Organisations are spending more time, more money and more energy responding to grievances, allegations of bullying, harassment, inappropriate behaviour, misconduct or discrimination. A raft of new legislation coupled with the introduction of the Employment Act (2008) requires all organisations to have in place a structured approach to employment relations and workplace issues. Central to this is access to skilled workplace investigators who can undertake an effective investigation, thereby enabling the employer to reach a fair, objective and reasonable outcome.

To support this goal, TCM has developed the Practical Investigation Skills course for workplace investigators, investiogating managers and external investigators. The course is predominantly for use as part of grievance, bullying, harassment and disciplinary investigations, however, it is also suitable in other misconduct, complaint or disciplinary investigations.

The course will ensure that your investigation is:

Course Content:

This course provides participants with the following skills:

• How to clarify the context of the investigation.
• The legislative and statutory framework of workplace investigations.
• The role of the investigator and the potential impact of an investigation
• The importance of prior research and planning to enable a speedy, rigorous and objective investigation.
• The impact of probity, bias and prejudice.
• How to manage the investigation process.
• Key investigation skills: active listening, interviewing, funneling, summarising and note-taking.
• Techniques to manage an effective investigation interview, including how to interview relevant witnesses.
• How to gather information, collect statements, evidence, mitigation, etc., and how to determine relevance.
• How to compile a well-structured final report which will withstand internal and external scrutiny.
• The 'Burchell Test' and how to apply the civil standard of proof in a workplace investigation.

Course Outcomes and Objectives

By the end of this course participants will:

1. Understand how to set up and manage a workplace investigation.
2. Possess the key skills to undertake a thorough investigation.
3. Understand how to prepare a final report that will withstand internal and external scrutiny.

Added value

The TCM Group will supply your company with the following documents when you purchase this course (free of charge)

• Template investigation protocol/policy
• HR and investigator guidance notes
• Template letters for use during the investigation
• Template investigator case pack containing everything that an investigator could ever need
• Template investigation report

No other investigation skills training provider supplies this level of support - this is why we now train and support investigators in some of the UK's largest organisations.

Do you need an investigator?

We provide professional investigation services which get results. If you would like to discuss a workplace investigation please contact us on 0800 294 97 87. We specialise in delivering complex bullying, harassment and misconduct investigations.

Future Agenda

24th and 25th August 2010