I recently worked for a client who was dealing with a grievance against a senior manager who had been put was on gardening leave and who was looking for a large pay-out following the initial grievance.  Before I was brought in, the organisation was minded to uphold his grievance.

After I produced a very thorough and strong report, the organisation was able to show that they had done everything by the book and that the employee didn’t have a leg to stand on. This evidence allowed the case to avoid both an employee tribunal, and paying the compensation the senior manager was demanding – saving a considerable amount of money.

So when, as an external investigator, I am asked “why have we employed an external investigator as opposed to using our own HR department?” my answer is simple: grievances which are poorly handled can end up costing the organisation a considerable amount of time and money.

Any organisation benefits from using an external investigator. Here are 10 benefits that clients have given about their experience of outsourcing an investigation.

10 benefits cited by clients

1. The fact that I had brought in an external investigator meant that the Employment tribunal will look upon  the organisation in a positive way
2. When an internal manager was used, the manager was not as competent in terms of the complexities of grievance investigations.
3. When we employ you, become a full time employee working on that case, not distracted by other duties like other HR Personnel
4. The external investigator was independent, objective and impartial.
5. Because you didn’t work here, you didn’t bring the assumptions and baggage that are too often brought in by internal managers
6. Because [the report] was thorough with strong analytics, it was not necessary to interview anyone further or again.
7. We didn’t have an internal person with the rank to investigate a complaint against a C- level manager. You were on a more equal footing with her, and were confident enough to ask all the questions that an employee might have been uncomfortable asking!
8. Thank you for pointing out our policies needed updating and for your input. It saved us potential embarrassment at a future employment tribunal.
9. We outsourced this partly because you are only there for the investigation, not going to be present in other meetings which might make our investigator think about asking probing questions and inflaming a colleague – we have to live with the people we investigate!
10. It gave a “Clear cut message that the organisation is considering the complaint both serious and seriously”

The benefits of hiring an external investigator outweigh the costs in the short and long term.  It is very hard to measure the benefits of goodwill and improved morale from staff, but these are also a key benefit gained.

Here’s a cost-benefit analysis of using an external investigator like CMP Resolutions