A Practical Approach to Conducting Workplace Violence Investigations

The term “workplace violence” encompasses an array of troubling behaviors, from single acts of incivility, belligerence, and insubordination, to extensive patterns of more serious and often escalating misconduct, including lethal threats, violent assaults, and worse. A common challenge faced by corporations and other organizations is the need to train HR, Security, and other personnel to competently investigate reports of workplace violence. Without the necessary training, organizations risk the possibility that their workplace violence investigations will fail to produce the information necessary to determine if company policy has been violated and to accurately assess and mitigate violence risk, or worse, make some situations even more dangerous by provoking an unwanted response.

The principles and techniques taught in this course are based on decades of investigative experience and the many lessons learned during thousands of workplace violence case consultations. This extensive experience has enabled TAG to create an efficient and systematic approach to workplace violence investigations that can be rapidly adapted to any investigative program, regardless of size, complexity, or case volume. In addition to helping participants build structure into their investigative programs, this course carefully explains the critical stages of workplace violence investigations and offers dozens of practical recommendations. Topics include:

• Key investigative principles

• Evaluating initial reports and allegations

• Creating efficient investigation plans

• Formulating appropriate investigative objectives

• Sources of relevant information

• Review of social media

• Conducting effective interviews

• Asking the right questions

• Searching company email accounts

• Review and analysis of evidence

• Preparing investigative reports

The training is presented by Stephen Carter, TAG’s Director of Training. Stephen is a former FBI Special Agent who has years of experience in conducting corporate investigations and managing global investigative programs at Hewlett-Packard and Target and guiding workplace violence investigations at TAG. The curriculum is designed for Human Resources, Employee Relations, Security, Legal, and other professionals who are responsible for investigating reports of workplace violence.