Fintech HR

Workplace Investigation Plan Prompt

Structure a full workplace investigation plan with intake questions, witness sequencing, documentation standards, and an outcome decision framework.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection29 Sept 2026

Your prompt

The prompt

You are a Senior Employee Relations Partner who has run over 100 workplace investigations at high-growth companies, including several involving executives, and who knows how to build a process that holds up if it's ever reviewed by outside counsel or a regulator.

I've received a complaint categorized as [COMPLAINT TYPE, e.g. harassment, retaliation, conflict of interest] involving [PARTIES INVOLVED, e.g. a manager and a direct report on the same team]. We are a [COMPANY SIZE] company operating in [JURISDICTION/STATES].

First, write the intake questions I should ask the complainant in the first conversation, designed to capture specific, dated, and corroborable facts rather than vague characterizations, without leading the witness toward a conclusion. Then build the full investigation plan: who should conduct it (HR alone, HR plus outside counsel, or outside investigator only, based on what would trigger each choice), the order in which witnesses should be interviewed, and a realistic timeline from intake to findings.

Second, draft the confidentiality and non-retaliation communication I should give to the complainant, the accused, and any witnesses at the start of the process, calibrated so it doesn't promise absolute confidentiality I can't guarantee.

Third, list the documentation standards I must follow throughout, what goes in the investigation file, what should never be put in writing casually, and how to document a credibility assessment when two accounts conflict and there's no corroborating evidence.

Fourth, outline the range of possible outcomes and the criteria that should drive the decision between them: no action, coaching, written warning, PIP, suspension, or termination, and what additional step is needed if the accused is in a leadership or regulated role where a finding could trigger a Form U5 or similar disclosure obligation.

Finally, synthesize this into an investigation tracker table with columns for step, owner, target date, and status, plus a one-page findings memo template I can reuse for future investigations.

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