Participating in a formal workplace investigation can be a stressful and difficult experience, whether you are a complainant, respondent, witness, manager or HR professional. Organisations need to consider how the health, safety and wellbeing of all participants can be supported during an investigation and how they can meet their duty of care. Some simple preventative practices can be of significant benefit - here’s how. 4

by Cassie Roylance 

Unfortunately, employee fraud and financial misconduct is a common issue for businesses in Australia, costing billions of dollars each year.  WISE Workplace is often engaged by businesses to undertake investigations regarding financial misappropriation, theft and fraud – but organisations can do a lot more to prevent fraud before it can occur

“Misplaced trust, inadequate hiring and supervision policies, and a failure to implement strong internal controls create an environment that is ripe for an employee to commit fraud. Employee fraud is therefore about opportunity.”

CPA Australia

The approaching end of the financial year provides business with an opportunity of their own, to refresh policies and safeguards which prevent employee fraud. Here are three helpful recommendations from our years of work in this area, to help your business reduce and control opportunities to commit fraud.

Third Party Audits

WISE Workplace has found that by the time concerns regarding employee financial misconduct are raised, the behaviour has been going on unnoticed for years at a time. This is especially the case in small businesses with a culture of trust, low staff turnover and in-house financial management.

By implementing an annual financial audit process, businesses are better placed to detect discrepancies early. An external audit process can also reduce the likelihood of employees doing the wrong thing, as the chances of being caught and facing consequences significantly increase.

A third-party audit created a culture of accountability, reduces opportunity for misconduct to occur, and may prevent major financial losses which can be a catastrophe especially for small businesses

Improving Financial Literacy

Another helpful way to reduce the risk of fraud and misconduct in your workplace is to improve the financial literacy of employees who hold a financial delegation. Have you noticed a tendency for team leaders and managers to sign paperwork without reviewing it appropriately first? This is an indication that there may be lack of awareness or understanding about the significance of the financial delegations they hold and of the practices required to meet these obligations.

By enhancing the ability of the leaders in your organisation to review, query and vet financial material, they will be well placed to identify matters such as purchase orders, invoices and contract terms that are not quite right.  

Strengthening Procurement Processes

Another area which can reduce the opportunity for financial misconduct to occur is through good governance around real and perceived conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest should be viewed as an important part of ensuring transparency, probity and due diligence in the procurement process.

Conflicts of interest are not the problem – unknown and unmanaged conflicts are. It is important that your staff understand the difference to encourage them to disclose conflicts. Once conflicts are identified, processes can be implemented to remove or manage the conflict. 

When a business is aware of real and perceived conflicts of interest, the procurement process is strengthened. By checking the Conflict of Interest register when engaging in procurement, your business can review and quality assure tendering and contracting awarding processes with third parties. Without this kind of rigour, employees may exploit the procurement process, perhaps by awarding contracts and tenders to businesses that they have a financial interest in, or that are owned and operated by a spouse or family member.

If all else fails and you do have evidence of unexplained anomalies, employee fraud or financial misconduct, rest assured that  WISE Workplace are experts in leading investigations into allegations and concerns of fraud and financial misconduct in private industry, the public sector and the not-for-profit sector. WISE Training also offers professional development courses for HR Professionals, Managers and Financial Leaders in relation to fraud investigation. For more information about how WISE Workplace can help your organisation, contact us on admin@wiseworkplace.com.au or call 1300 580 685.

by Katherine Robertson 

Workplace conflict is considered one of the biggest cause of staff turnover and costs to businesses. Queensland Government research shows over 65% of employee performance problems are the result of strained relationships rather than a lack of skill or motivation. It is imperative therefore that those responsible for dealing with workplace conflict have the necessary skills to ensure conflict is resolved effectively.

Do not judge or decide who is right or wrong

When we are the observer of conflict between others it is easy to feel that what we are observing is ‘childish’, or even unfounded. When we sit in judgement, dismiss conflict, or spend our time trying to determine who is right and who is wrong, we lose the ability to understand the driving forces behind the contention. This creates a situation in which the conflict continues or even escalates.

Uncover what is driving the conflict

Often when parties are in conflict, what they present on the surface is not what is driving the conflict. It is imperative that we unpack what is happening for the individuals through an assessment process. To understand what is motivating individual differences, leading to disagreement, one must actively and openly listen to what is being presented.

Take the example of two children fighting over an orange, it is easy for a parent to halve the orange and put a stop to the arguing. However, if the parent took the time to understand what was driving the conflict, they may learn that one child needs the pulp to make a cake and the other wants the juice to drink. It is important that we understand what the drivers of conflict are, as these motivating factors represent what lies underneath the conflict being presented.

Empathise without aligning

This can be difficult to achieve, particularly if we have preconceived ideas of what the conflict is about. To build rapport with the parties it is imperative that we actively listen and empathise with their situation. For example, "it sounds like this has been a difficult time for you", "I can hear that you are confused and upset". These statements reflect the ability to empathise with the persons situation as well as demonstrates active listening, this approach leads to effective rapport building without aligning with the aggrieved person.

Aligning involves agreeing with one of the parties and/or justifying their actions or behaviours. For example, "It sounds like the other party was out of line", "You have every right to be angry, I would be too". Aligning leads not only to ineffective conflict resolution strategies but can also lead to an escalation of conflict and/or further complaints.

Adopt a strength-based and solution focussed philosophy

Operating from a place where we acknowledge that everyone has strengths, they bring to the workplace sets the foundation for a solution focused approach to conflict resolution. If we can support the conflicted parties understand their strengths, we create an environment where positive and future focused agreements can arise, where people can feel confident and in control of their professionalism.

At WISE Workplace, our specialist mediators and workplace engagement experts can assist you to resolve workplace conflict in a timely and effective manner for lasting results and thriving interpersonal relationships. Contact us on 1300 580 685.