Prevent Workplace Violence With An Effective Complaint and Investigation Process. Here’s How.

How many times have you heard news reports of a person citing being bullied at work or school as their reason for engaging in violence at their workplace or school? And that the workplace or school knew about it, but did nothing to stop the behavior.

A lot. Too many to count probably.

And you’ve probably also heard in the news, at least as many times, where the person who engaged in violence had previously been reported for abusive behavior by someone who works there, but the employer did nothing about it.

Too bad those employers didn’t take the behaviors brought to their attention more seriously. Some of those employers have a nightmare on their hands. A damaged reputation within the community, employees quitting, and productivity hitting rock bottom.

And some of those employers are now being sued by those harmed, not under the worker’s compensation system that caps awards, but thanks to the organization's own failure to take action when abusive behavior was brought to their attention, under higher dollar liability lawsuits.

How Employers Can Quickly and Effectively Address Complaints of Abusive Behavior

Employers have multiple tools they can implement to prevent workplace violence including employee trainings and premises security assessments.

Though, the easiest of these tools to implement may well be to create specific policies regarding abusive behavior, and then to enforce those policies through an effective internal complaint and investigation system.

I spent 30+ years conducting civil and criminal litigation investigations, including regarding many workplace tragedies that could have been avoided. I helped ensure that employers were held accountable for turning a blind eye to dangerous and abusive work situations.

I also served as a litigation consultant to attorneys suing organizations to assess the adequacy and sufficiency of their handling of abuse complaints including evaluating any internal investigations they conducted.

Finally, I conducted numerous third-party fact-finding investigations for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses, including those involving abusive conduct. In those situations, thanks to an effective process and investigation, organizations were able to respond quickly to prevent abusive conduct from going unchecked, and damaging employee morale as well as community reputation.

Employment Policies

Employment policies prohibiting abusive behavior by employees, clients, customers, or vendors are easy to create. There are many blueprints available for you to tailor to your entity. But here’s some basics:

• Defining and expressly prohibiting abusive behavior. The nature of discipline up to and including termination should be identified.
• Identify the steps for an employee subjected to abusive behavior to take to report the conduct including whether complaints should be in writing or can be done verbally, and to whom, by position, they should direct the complaint.
• Confidentiality and protection against retaliation for reporting abusive behavior. A copy of the confidentiality policy, and a policy prohibiting retaliation for reporting abusive behavior, should be provided to each person employed there, and subsequently to each person interviewed during an investigation into allegations.

Investigation Procedures

Employers should identify, by position or title, who should conduct an investigation when an allegation of abusive conduct is made. In addition, should the allegations relate to management, safe guards should be in place to prevent interference with the process or results of the investigation.

Internal investigations should follow a specific process once a complaint is made and a person assigned to investigate:

• Step One: Review the complaint. Identify the complainant and respondent, and any possible witnesses, and any documents to review. Take any short term action to minimize the risk of contact between the people involved until the investigation can be completed. Generally speaking, if a party has to be moved to a different location or shift, or placed on leave, it is better to move or change the shift of the alleged respondent than of the complainant. (In some situations you may want to consult with an attorney before taking short term action).
• Step Two: Interview the complainant. Have the complainant provide a full narrative of the facts. This can best be done by having the complainant take you through everything from the beginning without interruption. Once that is done you can ask questions designed to get more details. Ask the complainant about anyone who may have witnessed the behavior, or who the complainant spoke with about the behavior. Identify and ask for a copy of any documents the complainant may have (some keep detailed notes). Finally, ask the complainant what the complainant would like to see occur as a result of the investigation process.
• Step Three: Interview the respondent (person alleged to have engaged in the abusive behavior). You will have to explain the reason for the investigation to the respondent, and then use that explanation to ask for the complainant’s version of the events in question. Again, begin with a narrative by the complaint starting from the beginning. Once that’s completed, ask specific questions based upon the allegations and circumstances in the complaint. Ask for any documents the respondent might have related to the issue, and also for any witnesses to the alleged incidents, and anyone the respondent may have discussed any of the allegations with. Close the interview out by asking the respondent what outcome the respondent would like.
• Step Four: Interview any witnesses identified by either the complainant or respondent. Make sure they understand the confidential nature of what they tell you and provide them with a copy of the confidentiality policy.
• Step Five: Review personnel files. Particularly for any prior incidents and anything else relevant to the allegations.
• Step Six: Analyze the information, and prep a report summarizing the information learned. Even if the investigation is inconclusive or unfounded.
• Step Seven: Prepare findings and recommendations based upon the results of the investigation. These can be done separately from the investigation report. (You may wish to consult an attorney at the stage to review the investigation and recommendations, and to ensure compliance with employment laws).

Having an effective complaint and investigation process can go a long ways towards diffusing situations that can lead to workplace violence. There are several other steps that can be done to keep your workplace and your staff safe from violence. Check out my FREE workplace staff safety checklist, and watch my FREE on-demand workshop to learn more.