Companies hunting for misconduct in their ranks are employing email scanning technology and FBI-inspired profiling to identify employees who might influence others and can increase or decrease the risk of damaging behaviour.
Smart algorithms that assess not just who is writing to whom, but also what those people are saying, are part of the arsenal of misconduct-tracking techniques now available to companies.
Seven of the 10 biggest companies on the Australian stock exchange - including the big banks - have used the services of risk management advisors Blackhall & Pearl, which says potential misconduct can be averted by identifying key risk staff.
Those staff are the ones who hold the most sway over others and can be identified by analysing emails, Blackhall & Pearl says.
The firm also uses specially designed surveys to help identify those workplace influencers who can determine how others behave.
Blackhall & Pearl managing partner Harry Toukalas says it is not the board, senior management or human resources departments that ultimately determine the company culture needed to prevent misconduct.
"Ultimately, your behaviour is driven by the way you interact with your peers and colleagues at the local level - culture is a local construct," Mr Toukalas said at a briefing in Melbourne.
Mr Toukalas said the effectiveness of a management edict can depend on how influential employees in the workplace respond when colleagues discuss the new directive.
If a person advises workers to ignore management's request, for example because it won't work, the edict may fail.
"What we've developed is a model to firstly uncover who these hidden influencers are," Mr Toukalas said.
Influencers can be identified through email scans and through staff surveys asking respondents to identify the workplace influencers they go to for advice.
"Aligned" influencers in tune with the company culture could help change behaviour.
"Unaligned" influencers, however, could be disruptive and a company would have to ask why the worker felt the way they did and whether they were a good fit for the company.
The email-reading algorithm, licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, can analyse millions of workplace emails at a time to identify workers who are a potential risk.
At a simple level, it assesses who is writing to whom, but at a deeper level can read content and predict behaviour and character.
Such psycho-linguistic techniques have been used for years by FBI profilers and law enforcement agencies.
"Here's a way for a board to have their finger on the pulse on a daily basis," Mr Toukalas said.
