How much does a workplace investigation cost in Australia?

A straightforward external investigation with two or three witnesses generally costs $4,000 to $5,000. Complexity, seniority of the respondent, volume of digital evidence and the number of people to be interviewed are what move that figure.

Is it cheaper to investigate internally?

In direct cost, yes. But an internal process that isn't independent can produce a finding that doesn't survive challenge, and an unfair dismissal finding carries compensation of up to roughly $95,000 plus legal costs. Cheaper up front is not always cheaper.

What hourly rate do workplace investigators charge?

Published Australian rates for general investigative work sit roughly between $85 and $165 per hour. Specialist workplace and misconduct investigators charge more. Integrity Solve charges $250 per hour plus GST, published openly rather than quoted on request.

Can I get a fixed price?

Only where the scope is genuinely fixed. Most investigations can be estimated reliably at the outset, but a fixed price on an open scope usually means either a padded quote or an investigation that stops when the budget does.

Do I need an investigator if the employee admits it?

Often not. Where conduct is admitted and the respondent is not senior, a fair internal process may be enough. The value of an external investigator rises with contest, seniority and consequence.

What Does a Workplace Investigation Cost in Australia?

In brief: A straightforward external workplace investigation in Australia generally costs $4,000 to $5,000. The figure that should concern an employer is not the fee — it is the compensation exposure that follows a process found to be unfair.

The short answer

A straightforward external workplace investigation — one complainant, one respondent, two or three witnesses — generally runs $4,000 to $5,000 in Australia. Simple matters resolve for less. Anything involving multiple complainants, a senior respondent, digital evidence or a long history costs more, sometimes considerably.

That range assumes the work is done properly: allegations put clearly, a genuine right of reply, findings made on the evidence, and a report that survives being read by someone hostile to it.

What actually drives the cost

Investigation fees are almost entirely a function of hours. What consumes hours:

The number of people to be interviewed, and how many times
Whether the respondent is senior, which usually means more care and more scrutiny
How much documentary or digital material exists, and what state it’s in
Whether allegations are contested or admitted
How far back the conduct goes
Whether anyone involved is on leave, offshore, or represented

The single biggest variable is scope. An investigation asked to answer three specific allegations costs a fraction of one asked to “look into the culture of the team”.

What the market charges

For general investigative work in Australia, published rates sit roughly between $85 and $165 per hour, with about $110 as a common midpoint. Rates vary by state and by the experience of the investigator.

Workplace and misconduct investigation is a different discipline, and it is priced differently. An investigator handling a bullying complaint against an executive is doing something other than surveillance work, and the rate reflects that.

Integrity Solve charges $250 per hour plus GST, and we publish that rather than quoting on request. For individual matters there is a commencement fee of $3,000 plus GST held on account, from which a $300 plus GST administration fee is the first draw-down and hourly work is then drawn down against the balance. It is not three charges stacking. The full detail is on our fees page.

We are more expensive than a general investigator, and it is fair to ask why. The answer is that the work is led by someone who ran Professional Standards investigations at Victoria Police and built an anti-corruption commission’s investigation capability from scratch. If your matter is a straightforward factual dispute, that expertise is not what you need and you should not pay for it. If the respondent is senior, the complaint is contested, or the finding is going to be challenged, it is exactly what you need.

The number that should actually worry you

Investigation fees are not where the money is at risk.

If a dismissal is found to be unfair, the Fair Work Commission can order reinstatement or compensation capped at the lesser of 26 weeks’ pay or half the high-income threshold — currently in the order of $95,000, and indexed each year. Add legal costs and the management time consumed, and the exposure dwarfs any investigation fee.

Here is what employers consistently underestimate: a valid reason is not enough. A dismissal can be ruled unfair even where the conduct genuinely occurred, if the process was not fair. That means allegations that were not put clearly, a person who was not given a genuine opportunity to respond, or a decision-maker who had already made up their mind.

The investigation is where those failures happen. A $4,000 investigation done badly does not save you $4,000 — it puts a five-figure liability on the table and hands the other side the argument.

When an external investigator is worth it

Not every matter needs one. You can reasonably handle something in-house when it is minor, uncontested, and nobody involved reports to the person deciding.

Bring in an external investigator when:

The respondent is senior, or connected to whoever would otherwise investigate
The allegation involves sexual harassment, bullying, or anything touching psychological safety
The complainant has already raised concerns about fairness
The outcome is likely to be dismissal
There is a real prospect of a Fair Work claim, a psychological injury claim, or a regulator
Nobody internally has the time to do it properly, which is more often the real reason than anyone admits

Where that last point is the pattern rather than the exception, some organisations put the capability on a standing footing instead of scrambling each time — that is what an outsourced integrity function is for.

How to keep it proportionate

You have more control over investigation cost than you might think.

Scope it tightly. Ask for specific allegations to be investigated, not a general enquiry. “Did X do Y on Z date” is answerable. “Is there a problem in that team” is not.

Get the evidence together first. Every hour an investigator spends chasing documents you already hold is an hour billed for administration.

Preserve material before you act. Deleted messages and overwritten records make investigations longer and outcomes weaker. Preservation costs nothing if done first.

Ask for a written estimate and a checkpoint. Any investigator worth engaging will give you an estimate at the outset and tell you before it is exceeded.

Do not go cheap on the report. The report is the thing that gets read by a lawyer, a commissioner, or a court. Findings without reasoning are worth nothing.

The honest position

An investigation is not a purchase you want to make. It is a cost imposed on you by something that has already gone wrong.

The only sensible way to think about it is proportionality: what is the exposure if this is handled badly, and does the cost of doing it properly sit comfortably below that? For most workplace matters of any seriousness, it does — by an order of magnitude.

If you want to know what your specific matter would involve, the fastest way is a conversation. We will tell you honestly whether it needs an external investigator at all.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Integrity Solve is not a law firm. Compensation caps and thresholds are indexed and change; check the current position before relying on any figure. Obtain advice on your own circumstances.