Guide to Managing Employee Grievances

by | Sep 10, 2012 | HR Guides |

Proper management and response to employee grievances is key to ensuring harmonious employee relationships and a happy workplace.  Unfortunately, it is often overlooked by employers – in many cases leading to negative outcomes that could have been avoided.
A grievance is a complaint by an employee that has been formally communicated to a management representative. The source of dissatisfaction is usually at a personal level (eg. issues with the working environment, dissatisfaction with processess or systems, issues with colleagues etc).

 

There are five steps you can follow to effectively manage employee grievances:

  • ensure that HR policies are defined and communicated – an organization’s HR policies and staff handbook serve to articulate the organization’s vision, mission, values, and culture.  It defines parameters for acceptable behaviours, and outlines procedures for various HR activities.  Properly defined and communicated policies and expectations will form a reference point from which employee grievances can be evaluated;

    Most Common Grievances

    Based on our work with clients, the 3 most common employee grievances are (a) favouritism by supervisor towards another co-worker, (b) sexual harrassment, and (c) bullying by co-workers.
  • establish proper channels for feedback – not all employees are comfortable providing feedback, especially if the grievances involve co-workers with whom they have to interact with daily.  Providing feedback regarding a supervisor or senior person is also often difficult.  Proper channels should be established for employees to give feedback confidentially, without fear of reprisals.  Increasingly, many firms are starting to outsource grievance reporting to third party providers to ensure objectivity and confidentiality;
  • define proper processes for grievance administration – proper systems should be developed to define how grievances should be recorded and managed.  Well defined systems should minimally set out clear guidelines regarding the collection of data, the conduct of investigations, protection of privacy, protection against reprisals, and communications;
  • establish a structure for issues resolution and escalation – grievances need to be addressed in an objective and fair manner.  A structure needs to be established to review grievances, and to decide on a course of action – whether it is to collect more information, to take steps to resolve the grievance, or to dismiss the grievance.  At the same time, a proper channel for issues escalation needs to be established to cater to grievances of a more serious nature, or when there is an appeal against an earlier finding or action; and
  • train managers and employees – ensuring a harmonious workplace is everybody’s responsibility.  Employees and managers need to be aware of the grievance management process, and how grievances should be managed.  Properly trained managers will be in a better position to address grievances as they are raised, and prevent them from escalating into something more serious.

Difference between Employee Grievances and Whistle Blowing

A grievance is a complaint by an employee that has been formally communicated to a management representative. The source of dissatisfaction is usually at a personal level (eg. issues with the working environment, dissatisfaction with processess or systems, interpersonal issues etc). Whistle blowing is the act of revealing a wrongdoing (whether criminal or not) to those in authority.

Employee Grievance and Whistle Blowing are separate and must be managed differently.

 

Do feel free to contact us if you require additional information on how you can better manage employee grievances.