On October 2nd I shared on social media the following post:
“Later this autumn, I will be taking a look at the track record of external investigators used by NHS organisations to look into bullying and discrimination cases. One that I will be looking at is IBEX GALE”
In response to a query, I then posted a second message:
“For those of you who have been asking about the diversity of the full IBEX GALE team, it can be found by clicking the picture below| ibex gale ibexgale.com”
The post attracted a degree of interest with numbers of people (some very senior and one an IBEX GALE former Associate), contacting me saying they would like to share their experiences of this organisation conducting NHS investigations they were involved in.
The following day I received a Linked In message from David Major, IBEX GALE’s Director which referred to these two social media posts and stated
“We are very concerned that you have referenced us in a way that clearly implies some impropriety on our part. As such, we request that you remove your post immediately.”
I refused because:
1. There is nothing in these two posts that can reasonably be read as having “referenced us in a way that clearly implies some impropriety on our part”.
2. There is both a public interest and a legitimate research interest in investigating workplace investigators in the NHS since they play a crucial role in some aspects of workplace so how they conduct themselves and their impact on such conflict and the individuals investigated is important
3. Research demonstrates there are significant risks of bias in how investigations, including workplace investigations are carried out – whether by internal or external investigators, not least where there are allegations of discrimination, especially race discrimination
4. The IBEX GALE website states they are a member of the Association of British Investigators whose own website confirms that the work of workplace investigators is in “unregulated sector” https://www.theabi.org.uk/
5. IBEX GALE’s own website states “We are the market leaders in workplace investigations” https://www.ibexgale.com/ so it seemed appropriate to open the research by looking at how the market leader works and its impact, especially as it receives very significant sums of public money from the NHS and other bodies for
conducting such investigations.
I had already told another IBEX GALE Senior Partner who had approached me the day before that the research would be looking at a number of organisations undertaking NHS workplace investigations and I would be happy to take up her offer of a meeting with the IBEX GALE CEO but not until the work had been fully scoped and had started.
After telling Mr Major that the social media posts would not be deleted, I found out the next day that Mr Major’s own social media message to me had itself been quietly deleted.
I welcome this outbreak of common sense.
The research planning, of course, continues and we’ll be asking for examples of their investigation processes and outcomes – positive and otherwise - in the near future.
I am sharing this blog in case any other workplace investigation firms seek to silence such social media posts in future. They will get the same response.
Investigating the investigators is an entirely legitimate area of inquiry.
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