11 Possible Interview Questions for an HR Investigation
Everyone involved in an investigation at work can find it hard, but the person being investigated can find it especially hard. But sometimes these investigations are needed to find out if a claim is true or to settle a disagreement between two reports. You can move through these investigations faster and better if you answer interview questions honestly and directly and help out along the way.
This article talks about the different kinds of questions you might be asked and what you should say to make sure everything goes well.
Interview questions for a workplace investigation and examples of answers
Here are some interview questions and answers for an investigation:
1. When and where did you see this happen? Did that happen?
Managers should talk to you once they have all the information they need. In an interview, you should be ready to answer questions like this one. Think back to when you were a part of this.
“I was in my boss’s office on August 14, 2019, when I saw him do something that wasn’t right. Our team has been to his office before, but he has never acted like this in front of the team.
2.Who was to blame for what was thought to be wrong?
When you work for a company, you have to tell the truth about what’s going on there. When hard questions about the investigation are asked, you should be nice to everyone and tell the truth.
“Our manager is to blame for his bad behavior in front of our team. We meet with him every day and every week for different things, so it was surprising to see how he acted in real time.”
3.What happened, and do you remember the names of the people who saw it?
The interviewer needs to know what happened in order to come up with a good punishment or decide if the police need to get involved. If you know about the meeting ahead of time, write down what happened and who was there. By using the STAR method, you can give a thorough, well-thought-out answer to your human resources manager. STAR stands for:
- Tell me what happened to you and the other people you work with.
- Describe what you are doing.
- Write down what your boss did to solve the problem.
- Result: Tell what came out of the meeting and how it got you to where you are now.
Example: “Our sales manager, Dave Taylor, called me and another salesperson, Sheila Duncan, into his office on August 14, 2019. He said it was very important. We thought a client had a problem, but it was worse than we thought. Taylor slammed the door and yelled at us for not meeting our monthly goals, even though he had praised us at our weekly meeting the week before.
He yelled curse words and other mean things that I don’t want to repeat right now. Overall, we wanted to talk to human resources about it to find out where we stand and if there should be disciplinary action.
4. What did the event make you think or feel?
This is your chance to tell more about how you interacted with the other person or people in this situation. Your point of view is important to get the facts straight and figure out who is responsible for what.
“I’ve already said that Sheila and I were surprised by how people acted at our last meeting last week, but I’ll say it again: Our boss has never done anything like this before, so his actions hurt us.
5. Did you show that what was done was wrong?
Employers want to know what you did in a situation to see if it made the other person act in a certain way. Be honest. Remember that just because you did something that made the other person react doesn’t mean their reaction was right.
“During the event, I did nothing but watch what was going on. Even when he called me into his office, I could tell from the way he talked that this wouldn’t be good. “I was hurt and hope that a good solution will be found,” I said.
6.Have you talked to anyone else in your company, department, or other place of work about this?
Talk about who else you’ve told about the situation to see if the human resources department can talk to them about it and get their point of view.
She said, “No, we haven’t.” I knew that telling the human resources department about what had happened was the right thing to do, but it took me a few days to decide. During lunch, we talked about how Sheila felt about it. Since then, we’ve changed how we act, and people at work have noticed. When we talked to human resources, we planned to tell them about this.”
7. Do you know if this has been said before?
This may be related to the question above, but it’s important to keep this question in mind to see if something similar to your situation has happened before.
“As far as I know, I don’t think I have. If someone else on the sales staff heard about this, I didn’t.”
8.Has this person’s behavior affected you in any way, at home or at work?
Be honest about how this event has changed the way you act at work and in your personal life. By telling your boss the truth, you show that you care about the company and make the person responsible for what they do.
Example: “At work, this event has changed how I talk to clients and slowed down how fast I can report how many leads our staff has gotten in the past week. I thought I got along well with my boss, but something that happened recently has made me wonder how well I can do my job as a sales rep.
9.Do you have any notes or papers to back up what you’re saying about this event?
If you need to, get together everything written. You can help with an investigation and give all the facts right away if you have written proof.
“Our manager sent four emails between our meeting and this meeting with human resources. All of them were about our clients and the work we did. Sheila received all of these emails. We answered these emails, but we haven’t spoken to him since.”
10.Can you give us the names of people who might know something about this?
If you think other people saw what happened, you should name them when this question comes up. It gives the human resources department more information about who they can talk to next to find out why this person is acting this way.
“Other than Sheila and myself, I can’t think of any other names right now. But I think it would be helpful to talk to Mike Shelley, Janice Smith, and Phil Vittorio, who work in sales. They have seen how we act or have seen our manager do similar things.
11. What do you think should be done in this situation?
To make a good decision, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a human resources manager. You can suggest that the employee be suspended, quit, or be fired if you think his or her actions deserve that kind of punishment.
Example: “I think our manager should be fired or at least moved to a different department for what he did. I think what he did was wrong, and the company should keep track of this. In general, I don’t think I’ll work with him again.”
