Why Neutrality Matters In Workplace Assessments

The importance of neutrality within a workplace investigation is oft-discussed and, at this point, well understood. I frequently tell participants in our Workplace Investigation Fundamentals workshop that to undertake a fair investigation they need to be capable of being open to the possibility that any person they interview – complainant, respondent, or witness – is telling them the truth. What can be less understood, in my experience with clients, is that an open mind is similarly required when conducting workplace assessments. Given the goals of a workplace assessment, it is essential that the individual or team conducting the assessment takes care to minimize the impact of their process choices on the information gathered. This will help ensure that any subsequent actions taken by an organization in response to the assessment are truly informed by the feedback of participants. In this blog, I will note four areas within a workplace assessment process in which there is a risk of