One of the major tasks of any HR professional is how to deal with workplace grievances as it is almost a daily business for them. The grievances may be genuine or sometimes just an employee who feels dissatisfied with the job or the management. Handling employee grievances is of utmost importance as it can lower employee morale, create inefficiency and increase absenteeism. In short, your employee grievance resolution and grievance handling can directly impact overall productivity at work.
What is an Employee Grievance?
According to PlusHR, “grievances are concerns, problems, or complaints that employees raise with their employers.”
The Society for Human Resource Management defines it further, saying a grievance is “a claim by an employee that he or she is adversely affected by the misinterpretation or misapplication of a written company policy or collectively bargained agreement.”
Basic grievances in the workplace:
Effective grievance handling in the workplace means addressing a wide range of issues.
1. Pay and benefits.
2. Bullying.
3. Work conditions.
4. Workload.
5. Management-employee relations
Having an informal chat when they first come to you with their issue can sometimes be all you need to address what’s bothering them.
Steps to address a workplace grievance:
1. Create the system:
The first thing is to set up a grievance redressal system for your companies to help your employees lodge complaints and grievances so that you can resolve them.
2. Acknowledge the grievance:
It would help if you listened more than you talked while dealing with employee grievances. When your employees come to you lamenting over an issue, lend them your ear, acknowledge the complaint
3. Investigate:
Not all issues qualify for a hearing. Generally, it is essential to review whether the grievance is valid or not. Inquire about the incidents or situations and gather any relevant information. Once the investigation is over, you can arrange a formal meeting.
4. Hold the formal meeting:
The employee with the grievance and the relevant party should be present in the formal hearing. The employee can put forward any evidence that backs up the complaint and explain how they would like the problem to be resolved. Circulate the minutes of the meeting notes.
5. Rate your choices:
Rank the possible solutions for each issue from best to worst.
6. Take your decision and act accordingly:
Once you have collected all the required information and examined the situation, you should decide. You might decide to accept the grievance in whole or part or reject it altogether.
7. Appeal process:
Your employee might not accept your decision and has the right to an appeal. Here again, your grievance policy should outline the terms and conditions of the appeal process.
8. Review the situation:
It’s always healthy to have an objective look back at your decisions. If the employee is happy with the resolution, you were good at settling the issue. In fact, it can prove significant to your company culture.
9. Uproot the main cause of grievance:
Your aim is to go for a long-lasting solution. That is, a formal complaint should be addressed once and for all. This prevents your employees from coming back again and again with the same issue.
Tips for managing and resolving employee grievances
1. Have fewer steps towards resolution.
2. Have a time limit.
3. Involve shop stewards at all stages. Every grievance is a union issue.
4. The dispute should always be the final stage in the grievance procedure. Bosses should not have the right to the final say.
The successful operation of an employee grievance resolution requires the maintenance of sufficient records, experience, and fair treatment to all.