Basic or Advanced Workplace Investigations Training: Which Program Fits You

The Short Answer

• Take the Internal Investigations Certificate Program if you want a complete, repeatable process from complaint to report, with forms and practice. This is the right starting point for most people, including experienced HR professionals who learned investigations on the job and never had formal training.
• Take the Advanced Internal Investigations Certificate Program if you already run investigations with a settled process and want to work on complex matters: legally complicated cases, fraud, EEOC charges, law enforcement involvement, and defending your findings afterward.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Credits apply toward SHRM and HRCI recertification; our SHRM and HRCI recertification credits page explains how.

What the Basic Program Covers

The course page describes a step-by-step internal investigation process that can be applied to all types of investigations, including harassment, theft, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and retaliation. The interactive exercises cover:

• Evaluating employee complaints and deciding whether an investigation is warranted
• Interviewing complainants and witnesses
• Managing reluctant or hostile witnesses
• Navigating organizational politics
• Investigating retaliation claims and handling harassment investigations
• Collecting and preserving evidence
• Investigating potential FMLA abuse
• Documenting findings and recommendations
• Preparing and writing professional investigation reports

The stated outcomes include being able to lead investigations independently, evaluate evidence objectively, prepare legally defensible reports, and make informed disciplinary recommendations.

"Basic" is our shorthand, not a statement about difficulty. Three days is a substantial program, and the page says it is suitable for organizations training both beginner and advanced investigators on a preferred process. If you want a preview of the ground it covers, read Workplace Investigations 101 and the HR investigation process, step by step.

What the Advanced Program Covers

The advanced page describes a course that focuses, through lecture and classroom discussion, on complex legal situations involving Title VII, the ADA, anti-discrimination law, and other regulatory areas. Topics it lists include:

• Handling an EEOC charge, and responding to and investigating a potential Title VII violation
• Identifying and investigating workers' compensation, disability, and FMLA fraud
• Investigating work-related injuries and conflicts of interest
• Advanced interviewing strategies with complainants, respondents, and witnesses
• Developing, acquiring, and documenting testimonial evidence
• Gathering and preserving physical, digital, and documentary evidence
• Working with external resources such as private investigators, and when and how to involve law enforcement
• Communicating outcomes to leadership
• Post-investigation issues, including defending findings in arbitration hearings, unemployment hearings, and insurance claims
• Minimizing retaliation risk

The page's own FAQ says the difference from basic training is that the advanced program addresses complex investigations, advanced interviewing approaches, evidence evaluation, documentation practices, and real-world investigation challenges. Those challenges are the kind we describe in our article on anonymous complaints, accused executives, and reluctant witnesses.

Where the Two Overlap

Both pages mention interviewing, evidence, credibility, documentation, and report writing. The difference is the starting assumption. The basic program builds the process and has you practice it. The advanced program assumes you have a process and spends its time on the situations that strain it. Both list the same course editor.

FMLA appears in both: as investigating potential FMLA abuse in the basic program, and as FMLA, disability, and workers' compensation fraud in the advanced one.

A Self-Assessment

Answer honestly. If you say "no" or "not sure" to three or more of the first six, start with the basic program.

1. Do you follow the same documented steps in every investigation?
2. Do you write an investigation plan before the first interview?
3. Do you have standard intake, interview, and evidence forms?
4. Can you explain in writing why you credited one account over another?
5. Have your reports been reviewed by counsel or leadership without major rework?
6. Have you led at least several investigations from complaint to conclusion?

If those are mostly "yes," look at the next set. "Yes" to two or more points toward advanced.

7. Have you handled, or do you expect to handle, an EEOC charge?
8. Do you investigate suspected leave, disability, or workers' compensation fraud?
9. Have you had to coordinate with law enforcement or an outside investigator?
10. Have you had to defend your findings at an unemployment or arbitration hearing?

Common Situations

"I've been in HR for fifteen years but never had investigation training."

Take the basic program. Experience without a consistent method is what the three-day course is built to fix, and the forms and templates are useful immediately.

"I'm an employee relations specialist; investigations are my whole job."

If your process is settled, go to advanced. If your organization has no standard process, basic first gives you one to bring back.

"We have five HR business partners who all do it differently."

The basic page notes on-site delivery for groups, which is usually the efficient route for a team. See custom on-site HR training.

"Should I take both?"

Neither page states that the basic program is a prerequisite for the advanced one. Taking both in sequence makes sense for someone moving into a dedicated employee relations or investigations role. Give yourself time between them to run real cases.

"In person or online?"

Both are offered in person and by video conference. See In-Person vs. Virtual HR Training for the trade-offs.

When Neither Is the Right Fit

If you need a SHRM-issued credential, or a designation aimed at external investigators, another provider may serve you better; our workplace investigator certification options comparison covers those. For other advanced courses in the market, see Top Advanced Workplace Investigation Courses.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Choose by what you need to be able to do next month. If the answer is "run a sound investigation from start to finish and document it properly," that is the Internal Investigations Certificate Program. If the answer is "handle the complicated ones and defend the result," that is the Advanced Internal Investigations Certificate Program.

Dates and venues for both are on the HR seminar calendar, and the Workplace Investigations Guide maps the full skill set.