Gaining assurance that those investigating conduct matters, do so objectively, professionally and apply any sanctions consistently.
Some organisations handle employee misbehaviour, grievance, and whistleblowing internally without the required qualifications, skills, capacity or knowledge of the key dos and don’ts.
Business leaders often miss hearing issues until they have worsened, received a complaint, legal hearing or seeing an article in the media.
Recent events highlighted the role of HR departments in conducting delicate, complicated investigations. The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry has drawn a lot of attention to how sub postmasters were (and still are) mistreated. The cultural issues, investigations and legal functions within organisations, raise fundamental questions for Boards and Executives who can avoid some preventable issues under their leadership. Risks to your business include:
- Breaches of legislation, policy and confidentiality
- Workforce loss of trust and confidence in internal processes
- Delays in progressing and concluding matters to amicable conclusions
- Further costs through litigation, appeals and tribunals
- Avoidable harm to mental health and wellbeing of the subject of the investigation.
- Incorrect and inconsistent decision making on case disposals and application of sanctions
What should Boards do in seeking assurance?
- Learn about your abilities, roles and governance structures
- Have a policy and framework that describes how you conduct investigations
- Generate reports on the activity, including trends, and lessons learned
- Post-investigation reviews to assess compliance against policy
- Summary of the use of Settlement Agreements and NDAs
- Updating staff on work the organisation is undertaking
- Ensure external expert advice and support is accessible
TIAA offers specialist advisory services in assisting organisations with their risk management.