It is quite a distressing event to deal with workplace harassment, and it is found that two in three companies deal with bullying and harassment grievances. Only 37% have to address pay complaints, while others go unheard. Hence, it is important to have the right employee grievance mechanism that will be helpful in tackling such issues at the workplace. In this article, we will briefly share about employee grievances and the ways to tackle them. So, keep reading the article till the end!
Grievance Procedure
Folks, before we get started with employee grievance and the ways you can tackle them. Let me tell you about the grievance procedure. A grievance procedure is basically a formal route that can be applied in communicating and filing a complaint with their organisation about one or more aspects of their employement.
While there are common employee grievances that occurs in workplace like employee conflicts and relationships, management, work conditions, supervision and compensation and benefits as well as work-life balance. When you have a clear grievance procedure at place, it helps in maintaining a positive and productive work environment.
Now that you have got a good undertaanding about grievance procedure. Head to the next section of the article to know about the different types of employee grievance.
Types of Employee Grievance
Folks, in this section of the article, we will be sharing some of the types of employee grievances that will help you to deal with these issues at work appropriately. Here are the types of employee grievances that you must know about:
Group Grievances
These are a type of employee grievances that commonly affect a group of people like a team or department. These can include unsafe working conditions, unfair work policies, and inadequate facilities. These are the common issues of group employee grievance. When it comes to collective grievances, there are multiple employees who will be experiencing the same issue, such as workload distribution, changes in shift patterns, or benefits problems.
Individual Grievances
This is another type of employee grievance that needs to addressed formally. Individual grievances can stem from personal complaints such as unfair treatment or discrimination, or harassment. It is seen that 53% of the organisations receive grievances about their relationship with the manager.
There can also be specific employee grievance related to this type of grievance where the grievances are related to any particular events or actions that affect an individual. It is just like denial of a promotion or any unfair performance review.
Organizational Grievances
This is another employee grievance that needs to be addressed formally. This grievance deals with the issues that are primarily widespread within the organization like systemic discrimination or any pervasive management issues.
There are also policy and procedure grievances that come under the organization’s employee grievance. This includes concerns about the way company policies are applied or interpreted. There are also concerns which surround the employees about illegal or unethical practices within the organization.
Union Grievances
These are some of the common employee grievance that can be seen. This includes grievances that are related to the recognition and treatment of the union, like failure to consult the union or the important changes or any unfair dismissal of the union members. These also include employee grievance where there is a violation of the contract, like the employer is taken to terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
This employee grievance also includes labor disputes.
These are the common types of employee grievnaces that can be seen at workplace. Head to the next section to explore the employee grievance procedure steps.
Grievance Procedure Steps
Folks, if you are facing any kind of employee grievance at work, then you can follow these steps to address them. Here are the steps that you need to know about:
Writing a Formal and Written Complaint
When it comes to employee grievance it can be formal in nature and they can usually be addressed in a written form. An employee can also raise a complaint about an HR manager or a manger in charge who would need to writ edown the employee’s statement that will be helpful in creating a formal ‘paper’ trail and document. This document will be guiding the entire grievance procedure.
A Formal Investigation
After a written complaint has been filed, a formal investigation begins. The nature of the investigation will be varying depending on the type of employee grievance filed. If an employee has filed a complaint concerning an inadequate paycheck, then a call to payroll will often be resolving the issue within minutes. If any sexual harassment complaints have been filed, then a lengthy investigation will need to take place. This process will include many interviews, viewing security footage, auditing emails, etc., can all be part of the process.
Writing A Conclusion
Once the investigation has concluded, a formal written conclusion will be written. This can be a black-and-white situation. If there is unpaid overtime, then finding unprocessed time cards will show that the employee is correct. However, when there is an employee grievance that concerns harassment, the conclusion can be gray. So, it completely depends on the type of employee grievance that has been filed and the way evidence has been collected in the process of investigation.
Mediator is Called
This is another step that is taken to address the employee grievance. This takes place when the given procedure is usually dictated by a union or other type of contract. The job of the mediator here is to work with both the employee and the organization to reach a fair conclusion. However, in some of the cases company will have no formal conclusion before they have had a mediator. In such cases, both sides will be presenting their cases to the mediator, and the mediator will be helping in finding them a solution. However, when it comes to the case of a union contract, the union will often be representing the employee in a formal grievance procedure.
Consequences
This step primarily depends on the nature of the employee grievance. If there is a formal agreement which is made during mediation or an investigator makes a formal recommendation that a company accepts, an organisation as well as the employee will be taking some action. This can be a simple action, however, in some of the cases it can be quite severe.
Employee can Appeal
If the employee is unsatisified and there is no contract which prohibits a court case, then the employee can take their grievance to the court. The procedure to do this will ideally be described in the company’s grievance policy.
Following up After the Final Decision
Once the final decision has been made someone from the HR, union or the law firm or nay authority who has been involved with the employee grievance procedure needs to follow up with the employee in checking whether everything is settled. If there are parts which needs to be arranged then the party or the person who is responsible must make sure that this is done as soon as possible.
Need of Grievance Procedure
A well-defined employee grievance procedure will help maintain the sanctity of the organization. The process will be helpful in marinating not only a positive workplace environment but also a fair work environment where the well-being of the employee will be considered paramount. Hence, there is a desperate need for an appropriate employee grievance procedure.
Conclusion
A well-defined employee grievance procedure will be helpful in maintaining a positive work environment and will give the employees the assurance to address their employee grievances. That’s all folks. I hope the article will help you to get all the information you need.
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