Employee Grievance Handling Procedure
Workers often file complaints of all types against their employers almost every day. Most of the time, the employer might be the target. Other times, employees could go after their managers or even their fellow employees. These complaints might be true or untrue, legitimate or invalid, and real or imagined. They may sometimes seem absurd and totally unfounded.
It is the responsibility of HR managers to investigate such complaints objectively and impartially, without making any assumptions. According to the well-known Hawthorne Studies, it is crucial to provide employees the freedom to air their complaints and to listen to them patiently and with restraint. Dismissing the disputed issues at hand as unimportant or undeserving of rigorous examination is pointless. It is worth repeating the ancient proverb here. “Watch out for little leaks.
Things to Keep in Mind When Managing a Complaint
No matter how trivial or unimportant a grievance may appear, it must always be taken seriously.
It is not appropriate to put off a grievance in the hopes that someone would “see the light” for themselves. An executive may politely apologise and regretfully postpone a grievance hearing if he is feeling irritated, weary, or otherwise out of sorts, but he should never say anything that would make the disgruntled employee distrustful or hostile.
Written complaints should be submitted: A grievance should be documented in writing to prevent confusion and accurately ascertain its precise nature. Writing on how most complaints are vague According to Jucius, “grievances of today frequently have their roots in yesterday’s deeds and their branches in tomorrow’s results.” Sometimes it is hard to find the roots, and it is hard to predict how the branches will spread. Even yet, the assignment must be completed to the best of one’s ability; otherwise, grievance management turns into grievance warfare. A nebulous complaint will need to be resolved once again.
The management is responsible for collecting all pertinent information on a grievance and keeping accurate records. This will persuade the staff that the administration is sincere, moral, and goal-oriented. Complete information will also aid management in making an equitable judgement. Keeping records up to date is crucial for future reference.
In order to pursue his claim, the employee should be granted unpaid time off.
All options should be listed by management, who should then assess each one separately based on how it will affect the business as a whole rather than just how it would affect it immediately or individually. Preliminary answers may be ascertained from experience, trade literature and technical examples from other firms, as well as sheer speculation.
The management has to check in to see whether the employee’s attitude has improved as a result of its actions.
Difficulties in Managing Grievances
forming a conclusion before obtaining all the information
drawing a judgement as soon as possible and ending the investigation for facts
not keeping accurate records, which might prevent the availability of facts
arbitrary use of presidential authority
settling complaints incorrectly, which leads to resentment.
Steps to Prevent Mistakes in Grief Resolution
The following steps should be taken by management in an effort to prevent mistakes in the grievance procedure:
helpful demeanour and management’s backing.
belief that the method should be followed by all parties involved.
implementation of the process with trade union and employee support.
observing the straightforward, equitable, and understandable processes.
creating the company’s transparent policies and processes.
giving the relevant parties the power they need.
the personnel department’s advising role in operation.
a process that is more issue- and fact-focused than personnel-focused.
Honor the choices made at every level.
sufficient public awareness of the process.
regular assessment and revision of the process.
The next section will address the four essential components of a grievance management method that Torrington & Hall mention:
Fairness: The process has to be fair in order to be just as well as to be sustainable. If staff members start to think of it as a formality, it will lose its significance and other methods of resolving complaints will be looked for. In the event of a disciplinary process, this also entails abiding by the natural justice precepts.
Infrastructure for Representation: For an employee who lacks the self-assurance or expertise to handle management on their own, representation might be helpful. But, there’s also a chance that the representative’s presence results in a defensive management style, which may be influenced by several other matters where the manager and representative may not agree.
Procedure: There should only be three steps in this process. Simply because the management hierarchy has more layers does not mean that having more is beneficial. This will just increase the amount of time needed to resolve the issue and quickly damage the reputation of the process.
Being prompt is essential to preventing the resentment and aggravation that might result from waiting around.
The primary goals of handling employee grievances
to provide the worker a chance to voice their complaint.
to make the nature of the complaint more clear.
to look into the causes of the unhappiness.
to try to have the issue resolved as quickly as possible.
to guarantee that commitments are honoured and to take the proper measures.
to advise the worker of their option, should the grievance not be resolved, to proceed with the matter to the next round of the process.
Successful Preconditions for Employee Complaints Handling
Adherence to the current legal framework: The grievance process need to comply with the laws already in effect. It need to be created in a manner that enhances the requirements of the statute.
Acceptability: The labour union, management, and employees should all discuss together in developing the grievance process. To put it another way, it has to be acceptable to everyone involved.
Simplicity: It need to be as simple as feasible. It should only entail actions that uplift the staff members. Otherwise, the process would get complicated and the workers will grow disheartened if there are too many phases or stages.
Clarity: All of the procedure’s steps should be distinct and easy to understand. An employee who feels wronged should be aware of who to contact, how to file a complaint, when to file a request, how to file an appeal, etc.
Promptness: A grievance system has to handle complaints quickly since workers get more irate when there are needless delays.
Based on the facts: Throughout the whole grievance process, the officer in charge should thoroughly investigate the facts and keep accurate records. Obtaining pertinent information is crucial, but so is analysing them after accounting for the legal, social, psychological, and economic ramifications which may arise.
Training: The efficient operation of the grievance process depends on the supervisors’ and union representatives’ appropriate training.
Follow-up: Regular reviews of the grievance handling procedure’s operation are recommended. Improvements are required to make it more effective.
The following actions should be taken by managers to successfully avoid and resolve grievances:
Quick Reaction:
The source of any unhappiness should be found and treated as soon as it is sensed. To handle complaints in a timely and efficient manner, the manager who specialises in addressing them has to get training. By doing this, negative effects on workers’ performance and overall organisation would be avoided. Thus, taking quick action is crucial.
Grievances Accepted: The management is required to acknowledge and honour the genuine complaints submitted by the staff members. Employee trust would increase if complaints were accepted, since this suggests that the management is impartially engaged in finding a solution. There would be a little decrease in unhappiness and a reduction in frustration. As a result, the workplace would be favourable.
Information Gathering: Regardless of whether complaints are reported or not, management has to take preventative action. The strategy need to be proactive. Prior to receiving complaints, management has to establish a process for communicating, sharing, and exchanging information on various topics pertaining to disagreements. In this situation, information on the nature and causes of complaints should be promptly gathered if they are reported. This would support employee grievance prevention and resolution.
Cross-Examining the Sources of Dissatisfaction:
when the complaints are filed and data about their nature and reasons is gathered. Cross-examination of this data is required. The reasons should be well understood by the management. As a result, corrective action has to be done right once to stop the complaint from happening again and to stop future damages.
Making Sensible Decisions:
The manager is required to come up with many solutions for the next course of action after determining the grounds of complaints. The optimal alternative should be determined based on industry regulations and practises. When making logical and more sensible decisions, it is best to avoid taking the managers’ or individuals’ personal preferences into account.
Execution and Evaluation of the Decision:
The management should act rationally and quickly rather than procrastinating. Implement as soon as practicable, and take the affected parties into confidence. There is no use in making the effort to avoid grievances if it is not done at the appropriate moment. Making the right choice on time would have more influence. To ensure that the choices are in keeping with how the business operates, they should be evaluated periodically. Grievances may also be prevented.
These procedures would be part of an efficient grievance handling/management process that would provide the proper grievance processing methodology. The issue would first be investigated right away. Second, if any complaints have arisen in spite of earnest attempts, they would be addressed and would also stop such incidents from happening in the future. These actions are crucial for handling grievances in an efficient manner.s.