How to Handle Employee greivences

 

How to Handle Employee grievances

Introduction

Employee dissatisfaction is the result of the discrepancy between what employees anticipate and receive. It may or may not be justifiable, but it needs to be handled with extreme caution. The HR representative must spend a lot of time talking to the employees to fully comprehend their complaints.

In personal management, it might be difficult to pinpoint the complaints of employees. But you can succeed in this task by using certain methods. The following factors can be taken into account to determine whether employees are unhappy  (vantagecircle,  2022).

Changed Behavior:

People's actions often reveal a lot about their emotional states. Every effective HR manager ought to be emotionally intelligent enough to address a complaint. Regular direct observation can be a very effective problem-solver. Direct observation is most effective when it is used in periodic one-on-one interactions, group meetings, collective bargaining, and employee counseling sessions.

Suggestion Boxes:

It can be placed in several accessible places around the office for anonymous complaints. Through this approach, the concern about unfavorable managerial actions can be minimized.

Open-door Policy:

It is one of the best empowering strategies to use at work. Open communication and openness are referred to as the "open door policy," which enables them to contact senior management to have their complaints addressed.

Opinion Surveys:

These surveys can be used to explore the various employee perspectives on workplace satisfaction. It might be carried out on a regular basis using surveys and self-reporting tools.

Effective Exit-Interviews:

Exit interviews, when conducted honestly, can yield insightful analysis of how the corporate culture affects staff members. Employers may enhance leadership practices and make the best feasible changes by understanding the reasons employees leave their jobs.

Leading Causes of Employ Grievances

1. Undesirable working conditions in physical terms.
2. Changes without prior notice.
3. Poor employee relations.
4. Improper wage adjustments.
5. Dissatisfactory office policies in case of: Promotion, Demotion, Transfer, Discharge, Leaves, Overtime
6. Violation of laws.
7. Inadequate safety, health, and welfare amenities.
8. Labor-management hostility.
9. Incidences of workplace favoritism and nepotism.
10. Lack of organizational discipline.

Problem comes quite regularly in working environments, irrespective of the type of organization, demanding reasonable solutions. Every complaint must be handled with care and decency. Dealing with complaints informally should be your prime objective. The employee might file a formal grievance, though, if the criticism is strong.

Every business ought to have a grievance procedure. The official, written document should outline the procedure and time constraints for each action and inform the staff of who to contact if they have a problem (Farmilloy, 2022) 

Establish the system:

The first step is setting up a grievance redressal system for the business  to make it easier for all employees to file complaints and grievances so company HR  can address them. we must need to take the following into account.

• In order for everyone to quickly access it, the grievance procedure needs to be put to the employee handbook's content.

• Appoint Someone to take responsibility for grievance receipts. The confidentiality of the employees' complaints must be guaranteed.

• The location where complaints are received must be accessible to all. It should be in the middle,  If it use e a grievance box, it needs to be in a place that is easy for everyone to reach.

• The grievances that have been made must be quickly investigated. That is, no matter need to be put on hold indefinitely. It must adhere to a timeline that defines when to expect a certain level of response.

2. Acknowledge the grievance:

It would be beneficial if, when handling employee complaints,  talked less and listened more. Give them your ear when one of your staff members comes to you to complain about anything.

No need to  to fix the grievances  right away, but you should do, it so your staff know that their concern has been heard. Let your staff know that you have received their report and are prepared to take action.

3. Investigate:

Not all problems are suitable for hearing. In general, it is important to consider if the complaint is valid or not. Ask about the incidents or circumstances and gather any essential facts. Other employees must be notified and given the option to defend themselves and present any additional supporting facts, even though it may not always be necessary.

Once the investigation is over,  can arrange a formal meeting.

4. Organize the formal meeting.:

All pertinent parties should be invited to the official hearing, including the employee who filed the grievance. The employee is free to present any supporting documentation for the claim and outline their preferred course of action for its resolution. You can afterwards distribute the meeting notes minutes.

5. Make the decision and then take appropriate action.:

The decision-making stage is now. Should make a decision after gathering all the necessary data and carefully examining the circumstance.

We may decide to accept or reject the grievance in entire or in part. If you conveyed the actions you will be carrying out to the employee in writing, it would be useful. The employee can also receive advice from you on how to handle similar circumstances.

6. Appeal process:

Employee has the right to appeal if they don't agree with your judgment. Again, the details of the appeal procedure should be outlined in your grievance policy.

This should be proceeded by an appeal hearing with new evidence. The employee should receive written notice of the same decision. If the  employee is still dissatisfied, it may  have two options: mediate the situation or take it to an employment arbitration hearing.

7. Review the Circumstances:

It's usually a good idea to review the  decisions with objectivity. You did a good job of resolving the conflict if the employer is pleased with the outcome. In fact, it may have a big impact on the culture of your business.

8. Eliminate the primary source of the  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.

Finding the problem's primary causes and making sure that the issue is fully resolved, with any necessary alterations taken into consideration, are the important solutions in this case.

Conclusion:

A grievance procedure must be run effectively in order to maintain sufficient records, experience, and fair treatment for all parties.

However, some exceptional circumstances might arise when the process mentioned above needs to be modified for the better. The Human Resource Department reserves the right to revise the same as necessary and appropriate.

References:

Farmilloy, B., 2022. SHRM. [Online]
Available at: https://blog.shrm.org/blog/how-to-handle-employee-complaints-against-leadership-12-tips-from-hr
[Accessed 30 11 2022].

vantagecircle, 2022. vantage circle. [Online]
Available at: https://blog.vantagecircle.com/handle-employee-grievances/
[Accessed 30 11 2022].

Versai, A., 2022. The HR Digest. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thehrdigest.com/what-are-the-leading-causes-of-employee-grievances/#:~:text=Malfunctioning%20or%20lack%20of%20work,employee%20grievances%20in%20
[Accessed 30 11 2022].