WorkflowHR Service Delivery & Talent Acquisition

Workplace Investigation Management

Workplace investigation software where every finding is tied to quoted evidence and tested for gaps before anyone signs

Every finding tied to quoted evidence and tested for gaps before anyone signs.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo24cellsin one investigation's evidence grid — 4 allegations against 6 sources, each with its quoted line: 10 support, 7 contradict, 7 silent
demo1gapfound by the challenge agent before signing: a man who sat through the whole meeting and was never interviewed
demo13daysfrom HR's first contact with the manager to the rating change the watch agent found — before the formal complaint
target100%of proposed findings cited to a quoted line and tested by the challenge agent before signing
In short

What is Workplace Investigation Management?

Workplace investigation software that runs employee relations investigations from complaint to finding with cited evidence. Seven agents turn the complaint into specific allegations, check investigators for conflicts, plan the witnesses, quote every interview, email, chat message and record against each allegation, test each proposed finding for gaps and bias, draft the cited report and watch every party for retaliation. The investigator writes and signs each finding, and the Head of Employee Relations approves the report.

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Updated

The problem

Why an investigation file is easy to attack

An employee relations investigation is central to the employer's defence when a harassment, discrimination or retaliation complaint becomes a charge. It is judged on whether it was prompt, impartial and adequate, and whether each finding follows from the evidence. Today the allegations sit in one document, the interview notes in others, and the emails and chat exports in a folder, and the investigator pulls them together by hand to write the report. On a case with 37 emails and 214 chat messages, reading every line against every allegation rarely happens, so people sample.

The weak points are the same every time. An allegation stays too vague to be found or not found. A conflict of interest surfaces after the investigator is assigned. A witness who was in the room is never interviewed. A credibility call rests on who sounded more convincing, and the respondent's explanation is never answered. And retaliation shows up weeks later as a rating, schedule or transfer change in a system employee relations doesn't watch.

typical47.8%of US EEOC charges in FY2024 alleged retaliation, more than any other basis
typical$660Mrecoveredby the EEOC in FY2025 for 17,680 people
typical25%maximum UK uplift on compensation when an employer did not take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, or unreasonably failed to follow the Acas Code
Where an investigation's business days goestimated
By hand35 days
With the solution19 days
  • Turning the complaint into allegations and checking investigators for conflicts3 → 1 d
  • Planning witnesses, evidence, preservation and interview order3 → 1 d
  • Interviews and signed statements10 → 9 d
  • Reading emails, chat and records against each allegation8 → 2 d
  • Writing and testing the findings and the report6 → 3 d
  • Review, approval and outcome letters5 → 3 d

Estimated split for one investigation against a 35-business-day finding clock, by hand and with the solution. Interviews stay with people, so they barely move.

How it works

How an investigation runs

Seven agents shape allegations, check conflicts, plan, quote the evidence, challenge each finding and watch for retaliation; the investigator signs.

What comes in
Complaints in4 channels · Speak Up line, email, phone, HRBP
Agents at work
Intake agentspecific allegations
Conflict agentwho may investigate
Then
Planning agentwitnesses, evidence
Then
Evidence agentquotes every source
Challenge agentgaps and bias
Then
Report agentevery sentence cited
Retaliation watch agent90 days, every party
A person decides
Investigatorwrites and signs each finding
What comes out
Signed findings
Cited report, approved
Parties watched
One case, step by step

One investigation, from a gap to a signed finding

Dana Whitfield, a Senior Demand Planner at Kestrel & Vane Distribution in Columbus, complains about her manager, Mark Halloran: an age-related remark in a team meeting, a warning about her review if she went to HR, and more. It is Wed 14 Oct 2026, business day 27 of 35. Here is how the investigator works the case with the agents, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Wednesday morning

    Her day opens on what needs her

    Alicia Grant · Employee Relations Investigator

    Alicia has 11 open investigations. Today shows 4 things that need her, each with one next step, most urgent first: interview Ravi Menon before writing A2 on Dana's case, approve 3 allegations on a new complaint, review a retaliation alert, and answer counsel's 2 comments on a report due Friday. Beside it, the agents say what they found overnight, and she can ask about any of it.

    Challenge agent, 07:20: “ER-2026-0219: A2 has a gap. Ravi Menon was at the 12 Aug meeting and has not been interviewed. A1, A3 and A4 passed.”

  2. 0208:12

    A new complaint becomes allegations she can find or not find

    Intake agent and conflict agent

    Rosa Delgado's complaint about her shift supervisor arrives on the Speak Up line and is kept exactly as received. The intake agent proposes 3 allegations — who, what, when, where — each mapped to a clause of the Respect at Work policy and to the sentence it came from. “He’s like this with everyone, ask around” names no act or date, so it is kept as a line of enquiry. The conflict agent checks 4 investigators: Ben Ford shared a site with the respondent from 2019 to 2023, Chen Wu interviewed him in a prior case, and Sofia Marquez is recommended.

    “The intake agent proposes; you decide what is investigated.”

  3. 03The plan

    Every witness and record, with the reason it is there

    Planning agent

    Dana's plan was approved on 10 Sep. The planning agent proposed each witness from the allegations, the org chart, calendars and room records, and says why: Luis Ortega was in room 3B on 12 Aug, Hannah Cole sent the 10:47 message. Alicia removed Erin Park with a reason. Legal hold LH-2026-061 covers the emails and chat, and the interim measures are in place: Dana's rating is frozen and her 1:1s moved to Erin Park.

  4. 04The evidence grid

    Four allegations against six sources, a quote in every cell

    Evidence agent

    The allegations are the rows; the complainant, respondent, witnesses, 37 emails, 214 chat messages and the records are the columns. Every one of the 24 cells says supports, contradicts or silent, with the quoted line and where it came from — 10 support, 7 contradict, 7 are silent. A silent cell still says what was read. The last column holds each proposed finding with the standard of proof, more likely than not.

  5. 05One click

    She opens the cell and reads the message herself

    Alicia Grant · Employee Relations Investigator

    On A2, the age-related remark, the chat cell opens message 118 of 214 in context. At 10:47 Hannah wrote to Dana: “That comment about your age was out of line. I’m sorry you had to sit through that.” The drawer shows how the agent read it, who collected it under legal hold, its hash and who has seen it. Alicia can agree, or change the reading with a reason.

    “The source describes the same conduct as the allegation, in its own words. Quoted exactly; no paraphrase.”

  6. 06Before she signs

    An independent agent stops the signature

    Challenge agent

    Two witnesses and a chat message 27 minutes after the meeting match Dana's account; Mark denies mentioning age. The proposal is substantiated at 0.78. The challenge agent runs its tests: the respondent's account is addressed, credibility rests on consistency and a message the same morning, not demeanour, and the outcome is consistent with 6 similar cases. One test fails: Ravi Menon was in room 3B for the whole meeting and was never interviewed. Sign finding stays locked.

    An override needs a reason code — the witness is unavailable, not material, or would only repeat evidence — and it shows in the report.

  7. 07In the case thread

    She asks why, reads the answer, then schedules him

    Alicia Grant and the challenge agent

    The attendance record shows six people. Alicia asks why Jo Kim doesn't count. The answer cites the record: Jo joined by video at 10:00 and left at 10:04, and Dana places the remark at about 10:20. Satisfied, Alicia schedules Ravi for Fri 16 Oct, 10:00, room 2C, with a 9-question guide that passed the leading-question check. The invitation goes with the confidentiality and no-retaliation notices, and the watch now covers Ravi for 180 days.

    Challenge agent: “So Jo could not have heard it. If Ravi puts the remark earlier, I’ll raise her again.”

  8. 08A1 is ready

    She writes and signs the finding, with a reason code

    Alicia Grant · Employee Relations Investigator

    A1 — left off the Q3 planning reviews after asking about pay — passed all 3 tests. The calendar shows Dana was invited to 5 of the 6 reviews, and the one removal follows a move to an 8-seat room. Alicia chooses not substantiated, keeps the reasoning with its citations, picks the reason code “F2 · The evidence does not support it” and signs as the investigator.

  9. 09Weeks earlier

    A rating change made where employee relations wasn't looking

    Retaliation watch agent

    On 2 Sep at 09:14 Mark changed Dana's mid-year rating draft from Meets to Partially meets — 13 days after HR told him of her concern, and the only one of his 9 reports' ratings he changed. Dana filed formally on 8 Sep. Because the watch counts from her first contact with HR, the agent found it on 9 Sep. Alicia upheld it, it went into the grid as evidence for A3, and Nadia Brooks froze the rating.

    “The agent only raises an alert; a person decides.”

  10. 10Draft 3

    A report where every sentence points to its source

    Report agent

    The report agent drafts scope, method, each allegation and finding, credibility and recommendations, with every sentence cited. Until a finding is signed, it reads “Finding pending” — never final. Because the case is high risk, sign-off runs from Alicia's 4 signatures to a final challenge check, to Daniel Osei's review under privilege, to Margaret Liu's approval with a reason code.

    “The report agent never presents an unsigned finding as final.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who carries an investigation.

The same investigation, seen by the four people who carry it — what their weeks looked like, and what they look like now.

AG
Alicia GrantEmployee Relations Investigator, Americas · 11 open investigations
Employee Relations Investigator
Before
Interviews most mornings, writes reports in the evenings, and samples hundreds of emails and chat messages for the line that matters.
Now
Opens a grid where every cell is already read and quoted, and spends her time on the gap the challenge agent found and on the finding she signs.
NB
Nadia BrooksHR Business Partner · interim measures and corrective actions
HR Business Partner
Before
Receives the first concern, puts interim measures in place and owns corrective actions with the manager — without the evidence in front of her.
Now
Sees the interim measures and the corrective actions proposed against similar cases, with an owner and a date; never the evidence itself.
DO
Daniel OseiEmployment Counsel · reviews high-risk reports under privilege
Employment Counsel
Before
Reviews high-risk reports before they are final and checks by hand that each sentence would stand up.
Now
Reads a report where every sentence links to its source, with his privileged notes kept apart from the file.
ML
Margaret LiuHead of Employee Relations · Kestrel & Vane Group, 30 countries
Head of Employee Relations
Before
Approves reports and assigns investigators, and answers for consistency and clocks across 30 countries.
Now
Approves or returns each report with a reason code, after the agents have checked it is complete, and sees the trends in Insights.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents shape allegations, check conflicts, plan, quote the evidence, challenge each finding and watch for retaliation; the investigator signs.

Intake agent

Turns a complaint into specific allegations — who, what, when, where — maps each to policy, sets a risk tier, finds related cases and proposes interim measures.

  • Never decides whether to investigate
  • Keeps the complaint as received, unchanged
  • Never tries to identify an anonymous reporter
Conflict agent

Checks each candidate investigator against reporting lines over the last 3 years, shared sites, prior cases as a party or witness, and declared relationships, showing the evidence for each conflict.

  • Never assigns an investigator
  • Shows every conflict with its evidence
  • An override needs the Head of Employee Relations
Planning agent

Proposes the witnesses, evidence, preservation requests and interview order for each allegation, and drafts interview guides checked for leading questions.

  • Never contacts a witness
  • Never sends a request without approval
  • Interview questions pass the leading-question check
Evidence agent

Reads transcripts, emails, chat messages and system records, and fills each cell with supports, contradicts or silent and the quoted line.

  • Quotes, never paraphrases, in a cell
  • Never judges credibility from demeanour
  • Marks a cell silent rather than guess
  • Below confidence 0.65, a cell goes to a person
Challenge agent

Independently tests each proposed finding for an attendee not interviewed, an unread source, an unanswered explanation, the credibility reasoning and consistency with similar cases. A gap stops the signature.

  • Never writes a finding
  • Runs on a separate model from the evidence agent
  • Cannot be switched off for one investigation
  • Explains every gap with its source
Report agent

Drafts the report from the signed findings with every sentence cited, and drafts the outcome letters to each party.

  • Never presents an unsigned finding as final
  • Letters share outcomes, not evidence
Retaliation watch agent

Watches every party's ratings, pay, schedules, transfers, access and exits for 90 days, or 180 for high risk, counted from the first contact with HR.

  • Never contacts a party
  • Never changes an HR record
  • Alerts only; a person reviews
Investigator

Signs findings; Head of ER approves; counsel reviews. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the agents, in plain words

Every working screen has a place to ask about it. Answers cite their source, and an action is only ever proposed for you to confirm — nothing changes without you.

Why doesn't Jo Kim count?

Jo Kim joined by video at 10:00 and left at 10:04. Dana places the remark near the end of the demo, at about 10:20, and no witness puts it earlier. So Jo could not have heard it. If Ravi puts the remark earlier, I'll raise her again.

What would make A3 inconclusive?

Two things would change it. One: Mark shows he saw Nadia's email only after the 1:1 — the archive shows he opened it on 20 Aug at 16:30. Two: a reason for the rating change recorded before 20 Aug — there is no calibration note. Neither applies today, so it stays substantiated at 0.71.

Why count from the first contact with HR?

Because retaliation often starts before a formal complaint. Dana first emailed HR on 19 Aug and filed on 8 Sep; her rating was changed on 2 Sep, between the two. Counting from the complaint would have missed it.

Why is Ben Ford in conflict?

Core HR shows he supervised at the Toledo plant alongside Greg Doyle from 2019 to 2023. The rule is no shared site in the last 3 years, so he can be assigned only with Margaret Liu's override and a reason.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

TodayA clean start to the day: four numbers, what needs the investigator with one next step each, her cases by stage, and what the agents found overnight.
IntakeThe complaint kept as received, the proposed allegations mapped to policy with the sentence each came from, the conflict check of every investigator and the interim measures.
The investigation planWitnesses with the reason each was proposed and their status, evidence to gather, preservation under legal hold and the interim measures in place.
The evidence gridAllegations in rows, sources in columns, supports, contradicts or silent in every cell with its quoted line, and the proposed finding with the standard of proof.
One cell, in contextThe chat message in its thread, the highlighted line, how the evidence agent read it, its custody and hash, and who has seen it.
The challenge agent's testsEach test on the proposed finding, the one gap that locks the signature, the outcome, reasoning and reason code.
The case threadThe agents propose and cite; the investigator asks back, schedules or dismisses with a reason. Every message is on the record.
Write and sign a findingThe agents' proposal with its citations, the tests passed, the investigator's own outcome, reasoning and reason code, and her signature.
The report and its sign-offEvery sentence cited, unsigned findings shown as pending, and the sign-off chain from investigator to counsel to the Head of Employee Relations.
Actions and watchCorrective actions proposed against 6 similar cases, the outcome letters to each party, and the retaliation watch for everyone in the case.
ApprovalsSign-offs waiting on each role, what the agents checked before a report arrived, and approve or return with a reason code.
Retaliation watchEveryone watched from their first contact with HR, the alerts with their evidence, and each one upheld or explained by a person.
InsightsFour numbers for the year, investigations by type, business days from complaint to finding by month, and the patterns worth a look.
Governance

Built for a file that has to hold up later: cited, signed, on the record.

Every cell quotes its sourceEach mark in the grid carries the quoted line and its place — transcript line, message time, record — and every statement an agent makes in the case thread is cited.
A person signs every findingThe investigator writes and signs each finding with the standard of proof and a reason code. The Head of Employee Relations approves or returns the report with a reason code, and counsel reviews high-risk reports under privilege.
A challenge gap blocks the signatureThe challenge agent runs independently of the evidence agent and cannot be switched off for one investigation. An override needs a reason code and shows in the report and at approval.
Need-to-know, with ethical wallsEach investigation has its own access list. Cases involving HR staff or executives go to the Head of Employee Relations and counsel only, the respondent's managers never see the file, and the administrator sees configuration, never case content.
What the agents may not doThey never decide a finding, contact a party or witness, try to identify an anonymous reporter or change an HR record. The systems they read are connected read-only: the agents never write to them.
An audit trail chained by hashEvery view, edit, agent step, signature and export is recorded, append-only, each entry chained to the one before. The full file — report, grid, transcripts, sources, custody log and audit trail — exports for a charge response.
Configuration

Your investigation standard, not ours

Set by the administrator and the Head of Employee Relations. Every change is versioned and logged.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Standard of proofUS and Mexico: more likely than notSet per country · UK, Ireland, Canada: balance of probabilities
ClocksAcknowledge in 2 business days · finding in 35EU reports under Directive 2019/1937: 7 days and 3 months, which cannot be lengthened
Conflict rule: reporting lineWithin 2 levels in the last 3 yearsLevels and years set by your policy
Other conflict rulesSame site in 3 years · party or witness in a prior case · declared relationshipsEach on or off
Challenge agent before every signatureOnCannot be switched off for one investigation
Confidence floor for a cell0.65Below it, the cell is marked for a person to read
Counsel review for high-risk investigationsOnPhysical contact, retaliation, executives, or a charge already filed
Retaliation watch window90 days; 180 for high riskCounted from the first contact with HR, not the formal complaint
Connections

Works with the systems an investigation already draws on

Speak Up linecomplaints by web, phone and app, and anonymous two-way messages
Core HRpeople, reporting lines, location history and transfers
Performance reviewsrating history, for the evidence and the retaliation watch
Email archive and workplace chatemails, calendar items and chat exports under legal hold
Badge accessroom attendance and floor access
On-call and shift rosterrotas and schedule changes
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of proposed findings cited to a quoted line and tested by the challenge agent before signing
24 of 24 cells read
in Dana Whitfield's case
target
90days
of retaliation watch on every party, from the first contact with HR; 180 for high risk
typical
25%
maximum UK uplift on compensation when an employer did not take reasonable steps or follow the Acas Code

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (EEOC FY2024 charge data via CWC — retaliation alleged in 47.8% of charges; EEOC FY2025 results, 6 Apr 2026 — $660M recovered for 17,680 people; Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 — up to a 25% uplift where reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment were not taken — and TULRCA 1992 s.207A — up to a 25% uplift for not following the Acas Code; EEOC Enforcement Guidance on Harassment, No. 915.064, on a prompt and adequate investigation by an impartial party, and Faragher and Ellerth (1998) on the employer's reasonable-care defence; EU Directive 2019/1937 Art. 9 on the 7-day and 3-month clocks). People and companies named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What employee relations leaders ask us.

What is Workplace Investigation Management?

Workplace investigation software that runs employee relations investigations from complaint to finding with cited evidence. Seven agents turn the complaint into specific allegations, check investigators for conflicts, plan the witnesses, quote every interview, email, chat message and record against each allegation, test each proposed finding for gaps and bias, draft the cited report and watch every party for retaliation. The investigator writes and signs each finding, and the Head of Employee Relations approves the report.

How does the evidence grid work?

The allegations are the rows and the sources are the columns: complainant, respondent, witnesses, emails, chat messages and records such as badge, roster and rating history. Every cell says supports, contradicts or silent, with the quoted line and its place in the source. Click a cell to read the passage in context, and agree or change the reading with a reason.

What does the challenge agent check?

Before a finding can be signed, it tests whether corroboration is exhausted — every attendee interviewed, every source read — whether the respondent's account is answered, whether credibility rests on evidence rather than demeanour, and whether the outcome is consistent with similar cases. A gap blocks signing; an override needs a reason code and shows in the report and at approval.

How does it catch retaliation?

The retaliation watch agent checks every complainant's and witness's ratings, pay, schedules, transfers, access and exits every night, for 90 days or 180 for high-risk cases. It counts from the first contact with HR, not the formal complaint, so it can find a change made in between. It only raises an alert; a person upholds or explains it with a reason.

How are conflicts of interest checked?

Before anyone is assigned, the conflict agent checks each candidate investigator against reporting lines within 2 levels in the last 3 years, shared sites, prior cases as a party or witness, and declared relationships, and shows the evidence for each conflict. A conflicted investigator can be assigned only with the Head of Employee Relations' override and a reason.

Do people stay in control of the findings?

Yes. The agents propose and cite; they never decide a finding, contact a party or witness, try to identify an anonymous reporter or change an HR record. The investigator writes and signs each finding with a reason code, counsel reviews high-risk reports under privilege, and the Head of Employee Relations approves or returns the report with a reason code.

Who can see an investigation?

Only the people on its access list. HR business partners see the summary, interim measures and actions but never the evidence, cases involving HR staff or executives go to the Head of Employee Relations and counsel only, and the administrator sees configuration but no case content. Every view, including the agents' reads, is on the audit trail.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your investigation standard, policies, clocks and a sample of closed, anonymised cases — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own investigations first.

See it on
your investigations.

We'll run Workplace Investigation Management on a sample of your own closed, anonymised investigations.