An employer messages on a Sunday evening. Something happened on Friday, he has told the employee not to come in on Monday, he has not put anything in writing, and he wants to know what he should do next.
Whatever a website tells him, he will act on. That is exactly why it must tell him almost nothing.
Establish what has already happened first
Not what he wants to do. What he has already said, to whom, in what form, and whether anyone has been sent home or suspended. This determines the position and it is the one thing an adviser most needs.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a consultancy might publish. Your answers should come from your own pages.
Employer: I need to discipline someone. What is the process? Assistant: The process depends on the circumstances and on getting the detail right, so an adviser needs to speak with you rather than working from a general outline. The page explains how the consultancy supports employers through this and the fee arrangements. Could you tell me how many employees you have, what has happened in general terms and whether anything has already been said to the person?
Employer: I have told them not to come in tomorrow. Was that alright? Assistant: That is exactly the kind of thing an adviser needs to look at with you, and I am not able to comment on it. I will flag this as urgent so someone can call you first thing. Could you leave a number and confirm whether anything has been put in writing?
Employer: Someone has raised a grievance against a manager. What now? Assistant: Grievances need handling carefully and the right approach depends on what has been raised and by whom. The page explains how the consultancy supports employers and how quickly they can engage. Could I take your details and a note of when the grievance was raised?
Never set out a process
Not stages, not timescales, not what to write. An employer applying a general outline to a specific situation is how a procedurally unfair process happens.
Never comment on what has already been done
Whether an action was appropriate is exactly the question an adviser must answer with full information. A reassuring or alarming response from a website is equally damaging.
Capture the urgency accurately
Whether a meeting is scheduled, whether anyone is suspended, whether anything is happening tomorrow. These enquiries need prioritising against a normal queue.
Explain how quickly you can engage
Same day, next working day, or an urgent arrangement. Employers contacting on a Sunday need to know when somebody will call.
Publish the service and the fees
Whether support is retained or ad hoc, what an urgent engagement costs and what is included. Employers in a crisis need to know before they commit.
Handle the employee who contacts you
Someone on the other side of a process may reach a consultancy acting for employers. They need pointing to their own sources of advice, clearly and without discussion.
Route anything involving harm immediately
Allegations involving safety, harassment or anything criminal need a person and sometimes other authorities, not a captured form.
Redundancy enquiries behave the same way
They are covered in redundancy process enquiries handled without advice.
Urgency is the differentiator
It is the pattern in HR help enquiries from small employers with a problem today and managed service enquiries from small businesses.
Getting started
Publish your services, engagement speed and fees, then capture what has already happened at any hour and get it to an adviser, which works best when your own team shapes the answers, as described in why your support team should help train the chatbot. SpideyChat for consultancies answers from your published pages and never sets out a process. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.