When conducting workplace investigations, in-person interviews are the most revealing and effective method, allowing the investigator to read body language and use some of the best tricks and techniques to get at the truth. However a face-to-face meeting is not always possible, especially at the initial stage of an investigation.

A company with thousands of employees in the field still has to investigate every complaint no matter where the complainant and subject are located. To protect themselves from litigation, companies have to demonstrate that they have thoroughly investigated complaints without regard for the cost and hassle.

This is where the telephone interview comes into play, allowing the investigator to gather all the initial information without incurring huge travel costs for the company.

“Usually these complaints start as a ‘he said, she said’,” explains Greg Caldwell, an expert investigator and president of White Hat Solutions Corporate Investigations and Security Consulting.

Step-by-Step Information Gathering

Each person represented in the complaint must be contacted in order to get the investigation under way. Caldwell outlines the initial steps in investigating workplace incidents by telephone:

Interview the person who made the complaint, getting all the basic information related to time, place and people involved.

Interview any witnesses the complainant identified to get their version of the incident.

Interview the subject of the complaint, providing as little information as possible and without revealing the identity of the complainant.

Document the Story

Getting to the truth over the telephone is trickier than in a face-to-face interview, but it’s not impossible.

“When I’m doing a telephone interview I will ask the person to tell me a story of what happened and I try not to interrupt at all,” says Caldwell. “It’s almost the reverse of what you’d do in person.”

Taking detailed notes ensures you have an accurate account of the conversation, and provides prompts for further questioning. Caldwell draws a vertical line down the page, recording what the subject is saying on the left side and making a note of any questions he wants to ask on the right. This way he can avoid interrupting with questions but has something to refer to when he’s ready to probe further.

“You get a lot more if you let people talk, particularly about themselves,” he says.

Identify Inconsistencies

When the subject has finished relating the story, Caldwell uses his list of questions to fill in the missing information. He then asks the person to write down everything he or she has just said, including all the details that are important to the story, and send the written account to him.

“As you might imagine, when you’re using this technique on the subject of the interview, his written story and his telephone story are often at cross-purposes and definitely contain some inconsistencies,” says Caldwell. “That’s where you really start building on the interrogation.”

The inconsistencies in the written and related stories are what Caldwell refers to as “lead generators” on which he follows up to get better clarification. In the absence of a face-to-face interview inconsistencies identified over the telephone can lead an investigator to a better understanding of the truth and go a long way toward reaching a resolution.