There may be circumstances in which an employer that has received a grievance should carry out an investigation to establish the facts of the case before holding a formal grievance meeting.
If a grievance investigation is necessary, the employer should carry this out swiftly, so that a formal meeting can be held without unreasonable delay.
Any grievance investigation should be impartial and thorough. As part of the investigation, the manager may need, for example, to check policies or procedures or access the employee's file to check details of the history of their employment.