Workplace-Investigation Backlog Recovery Leader

The mandate

The case inventory contains reports of harassment, retaliation, expense conflict, bullying and manager interference that have aged under different regional practices. Some matters were repeatedly reassigned, several witnesses have left and complainants receive inconsistent updates. Legal privilege is asserted broadly but documented unevenly, making it difficult to know which files can support employment decisions. The global investigations head departed after an escalation to the board, leaving an immediate executive gap in triage, investigator independence and remedy follow-through.

During the first twenty days, the leader must establish a protected case census, identify safety and retaliation risk, separate open investigations from grievances or compliance referrals and impose evidence-preservation instructions through authorised owners. By day fifty, each case needs a scope, decision authority, independence assessment, witness plan, jurisdictional advice dependency and credible completion date. The ninety-day window must close the highest-risk backlog without sacrificing procedural fairness or imposing one country’s standard across every location.

Decision rights include assigning internal or approved external investigators, removing conflicted case owners, approving investigation plans, setting communication cadence and accepting evidential completeness before findings move to accountable decision-makers. The interim may escalate protective measures and pause a process that threatens a witness or compromises evidence. Disciplinary outcomes, legal privilege determinations, regulatory notifications, settlement, employment termination and board-member matters remain with authorised legal, compliance and governance bodies.

The assignment must create a durable case institution rather than merely clear old files. The leader will appoint or prepare the permanent investigations head, calibrate a panel of investigators, establish case-quality review and observe the successor run three complex matters from intake through closure. The handover will include open risks, preservation duties, ageing reasons, non-retaliation checks, remedy owners, regional exceptions and a record of where counsel or committee authority controls the next step.

The remit excludes legal advice, criminal fact-finding, covert surveillance, disciplinary judgement, settlement negotiation, regulatory representation and investigation of any matter where the interim lacks documented authority. The leader cannot promise confidentiality that law or fairness prevents, suppress inconvenient evidence, infer credibility from seniority or pressure complainants to accept informal resolution. Counsel, designated employment decision-makers, regulators and law enforcement retain their respective powers.

Why this seat is open

The departure removed the only leader able to resolve conflicts between employee relations, compliance and legal ownership while sensitive cases continued ageing. Delay now creates its own retaliation, evidence and trust risk. A fixed-term investigations executive can impose fair triage, restore protected communication and transfer a tested case system to permanent leadership without appropriating disciplinary authority.

What you will own

• Create the protected case census with allegation, jurisdiction, age, safety, retaliation, privilege, owner and decision-authority fields.
• Triage matters into investigation, grievance, compliance, safeguarding or other routes while documenting why each classification is proportionate.
• Appoint qualified investigators, test conflicts, approve scopes and require evidence plans that preserve both fairness and efficiency.
• Establish complainant and witness communication, protection checks, preservation duties and escalation for interference or retaliation signals.
• Review investigative completeness, contradictory evidence, credibility reasoning, jurisdictional dependencies and unsupported findings before closure.
• Track remedy and control actions without substituting the investigations function for disciplinary or management decision-makers.
• Hand over the case system, investigator panel, quality standard, open-risk register and successor-led complex matters.

Candidate qualifications

• Has led a multinational workplace-investigations function through a material backlog, leadership departure or board-level conduct concern.
• Understands harassment, retaliation, conflicts, bullying, whistleblowing, evidence preservation, privilege and procedural fairness across jurisdictions.
• Can separate investigation findings from disciplinary, regulatory, criminal and settlement decisions while maintaining decisive case movement.
• Has protected complainants and witnesses where reporting lines, seniority or revenue influence created credible interference risk.
• Brings experience commissioning external investigators, challenging incomplete analysis and explaining limitations to board committees.
• Has transferred live high-sensitivity cases to permanent leadership without breaching confidentiality or losing accountability.

Non-negotiables

• Can work onsite in New York and undertake protected witness meetings plus monthly regional case reviews.
• Brings direct investigation leadership; general employee relations experience without complex fact-finding is insufficient.
• Will not promise absolute confidentiality, prejudge allegations, use covert methods or accept seniority as evidence of credibility.
• Has no undisclosed relationship with implicated executives, external investigators, employment counsel or relevant regulators.

1. 49 words maximum. Which factor would move an ageing workplace case to immediate executive triage?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you protect privilege without using it to conceal ordinary case delay?
3. 49 words maximum. What must the successor demonstrate before taking a high-sensitivity investigation from you?